Tropical air–sea interactions accelerate the recovery of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation after a major shutdown

Using a coupled ocean–sea ice–atmosphere model of intermediate complexity, the authors study the influence of air–sea interactions on the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Mimicking glacial Heinrich events, a complete shutdown of the AMOC is triggered by the delivery of anomalous freshwater forcing to the northern North Atlantic. Analysis of fully and partially coupled freshwater perturbation experiments under glacial conditions shows that associated changes of the heat transport in the North Atlantic lead to a cooling north of the thermal equator and an associated strengthening of the northeasterly trade winds. Because of advection of cold air and an intensification of the trade winds, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is shifted southward. Changes of the accumulated precipitation lead to the generation of a positive salinity anomaly in the northern tropical Atlantic and a negative anomaly in the southern tropical Atlantic. During the shutdown phase of the AMOC, cross-equatorial oceanic surface flow is halted, preventing dilution of the positive salinity anomaly in the North Atlantic. Advected northward by the wind-driven ocean circulation, the positive salinity anomaly increases the upper-ocean density in the deep-water formation regions, thereby accelerating the recovery of the AMOC considerably. Partially coupled experiments that neglect tropical air–sea coupling reveal that the recovery time of the AMOC is almost twice as long as in the fully coupled case. The impact of a shutdown of the AMOC on the Indian and Pacific Oceans can be decomposed into atmospheric and oceanic contributions. Temperature anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere are largely controlled by atmospheric circulation anomalies, whereas those in the Southern Hemisphere are strongly determined by ocean dynamical changes and exhibit a time lag of several decades. An intensification of the Pacific meridional overturning cell in the northern North Pacific during the AMOC shutdown can be explained in terms of wind-driven ocean circulation changes acting in concert with global ocean adjustment processes.