New study finds that the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) weakened by about 12% during 2000-2020. (NOAA Source)
Cold, dense water from the Southern Ocean transfers heat and carbon to the Northern Hemisphere via the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. But a new study finds that the northward transport of cold water at 16°N weakened by about 12 percent during 2000-2020.
www.climate.gov
A new study finds that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) abyssal limb in the North Atlantic has weakened over the past two decades, contributing to sea level rise in the region.
The AMOC consists of an upper cell and a deep sea or abyssal cell that sits underneath. The upper cell transports warm water from the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean across the equator northward toward high latitudes in the North Atlantic, where it cools, sinks, and flows equatorward as cold deep water. It sits atop a cell of colder, denser water at the ice edge of Antarctica known as the abyssal cell. These waters flow north along the seafloor into the North Atlantic where they slowly rise and mix with other waters that flow back to the south. Together, these cells carry a maximum of 25% of the net global ocean and atmosphere energy (heat) transport.
Antarctic Bottom Water is the coldest, densest water mass of the oceans, found in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. The abyssal limb of the AMOC redistributes heat and carbon as it carries Antarctic Bottom Water from the Southern Ocean towards the northern hemisphere. Using mooring observations and hydrographic data from multiple sources in the North Atlantic, the study found that the northward transport of Antarctic Bottom Water at 16°N WEAKENED BY ABOUT 12% DURING 2000-2020. This weakening of the abyssal cell is associated with an observed warming throughout the deep Western Atlantic Ocean, contributing to an increase in deep sea heat content and, hence, SEA LEVEL RISE IN THE REGION.
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