Florida Current transport observations reveal four decades of steady state

Volkov, Denis L.; Smith, Ryan H.; Garcia, Rigoberto F.; Smeed, David A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1740-1778; Moat, Ben I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8676-7779; Johns, William E.; Baringer, Molly O.. 2024 Florida Current transport observations reveal four decades of steady state. Nature Communications, 15 (1). 10.1038/s41467-024-51879-5

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Abstract/Summary

The potential weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in response to anthropogenic forcing, suggested by climate models, is at the forefront of scientific debate. A key AMOC component, the Florida Current (FC), has been measured using submarine cables between Florida and the Bahamas at 27°N nearly continuously since 1982. A decrease in the FC strength could be indicative of the AMOC weakening. Here, we reassess motion-induced voltages measured on a submarine cable and reevaluate the overall trend in the inferred FC transport. We find that the cable record beginning in 2000 requires a correction for the secular change in the geomagnetic field. This correction removes a spurious trend in the record, revealing that the FC has remained remarkably stable. The recomputed AMOC estimates at ~26.5°N result in a significantly weaker negative trend than that which is apparent in the AMOC time series obtained with the uncorrected FC transports.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1038/s41467-024-51879-5
ISSN:	2041-1723
Date made live:	10 Sep 2024 16:17 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538002

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