What controls the structure and stability of the ocean meridional overturning circulation: implications for abrupt climate change?
That a freshening and warming of surface waters in high latitudes can lead to a weakening or even a shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has been a topic of many previous studies; the potential impacts of such a shut-down are most prominent over the northern Atlantic and western Europe, but felt in other parts of the globe as well. Yet, what controls the structure and overall stability of the AMOC remains a subject of debate. Here, we will systematically explore the role of several key factors that affect the AMOC structure and stability, including the wind forcing and the wind-driven circulation, ocean vertical diffusion, and the AMOC temporal variability.
