MULTIDECADAL CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN THE GREENLAND SEA AND SURROUNDINGREGIONS - A COUPLED MODEL SIMULATION

Pronounced oscillations of ocean temperature and salinity occur in the Greenland Sea in a 2000 year integration of a coupled ocean-atmospher e model. The oscillations, involving both the surface and subsurface o cean layers, have a timescale of approximately 40-80 years, and are as sociated with fluctuations in the intensity of the East Greenland Curr ent. The Greenland Sea temperature and salinity variations are precede d by large-scale changes in near-surface salinity in the Arctic, which appear to propagate out of the Arctic through the East Greenland Curr ent. These anomalies then propagate around the subpolar gyre into the Labrador Sea and the central North Atlantic. These oscillations are co herent with previously identified multi-decadal fluctuations in the in tensity of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. The oscillatio ns in the Greenland Sea are related to atmospheric variability. Negati ve (cold) anomalies of surface air temperature are associated with neg ative (cold) sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Greenland Sea, with amplitudes up to 2 degrees C near Greenland declining to sev eral tenths of a degree C over northwestern Europe. The cold SST anoma lies and intensified East Greenland Current are also associated with e nhanced northerly winds over the Greenland Sea.