Ff. Perez et al., Climatological coupling of the thermohaline decadal changes in Central Water of the Eastern North Atlantic, SCI MAR, 64(3), 2000, pp. 347-353
Data collected at 42 degrees N, 10 degrees W in the intergyre region of the
Northeast Atlantic show significant year to year variability in the T-S ch
aracteristics of the upper 800m of the water column. Taking salinity values
on the sigma(theta) = 27.1 kg m(-3) isopycnal as representative of the Eas
tern North Atlantic Central Water mass it was found that the variability co
rrelates well with the wind stress at 43 degrees N, 11 degrees W, with cumu
lative river discharge (which we take as an index of precipitation over the
ocean) and with the NAO (which is an index of the strength and position of
storm tracks and the state of the evaporation-precipitation balance). The
covariation illustrates the close coupling between water mass formation and
climate in the North Atlantic, where climate changes affect the deep venti
lation by which ENACW is formed and the evaporation-precipitation balance f
rom which the T-S signature results. Hints of a 20 year cycle in the ocean
correlate with a 20 year periodicity in the NAG. It remains to be establish
ed whether there is a feedback mechanism by which water mass anomalies affe
ct the climate and the intensity and variation of the NAO pattern, and the
extent to which upper ocean observations can be used as an indicator of fut
ure climate trends.