1.4.6 Ocean and Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Dynamics
Developments in the understanding of the oceanic and atmospheric circulations, as well as their interactions, constitute a striking example of the continuous interplay among theory, observations and, more recently, model simulations. The atmosphere and ocean surface circulations were observed and analysed globally as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, in close association with the development of worldwide trade based on sailing. These efforts led to a number of important conceptual and theoretical works. For example, Edmund Halley first published a description of the tropical atmospheric cells in 1686, and George Hadley proposed a theory linking the existence of the trade winds with those cells in 1735. These early studies helped to forge concepts that are still useful in analysing and understanding both the atmospheric general circulation itself and model simulations (Lorenz, 1967; Holton, 1992).
A comprehensive description of these circulations was delayed by the lack of necessary observations in the higher atmosphere or deeper ocean. The balloon record of Gay-Lussac, who reached an altitude of 7,016 m in 1804, remained unbroken for more than 50 years. The stratosphere was independently discovered near the turn of the 20th century by Aßmann (1902) and Teisserenc de Bort (1902), and the first manned balloon flight into the stratosphere was made in 1901 (Berson and Süring, 1901). Even though it was recognised over 200 years ago (Rumford, 1800; see also Warren, 1981) that the oceans’ cold subsurface waters must originate at high latitudes, it was not appreciated until the 20th century that the strength of the deep circulation might vary over time, or that the ocean’s Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC; often loosely referred to as the ‘thermohaline circulation’, see the Glossary for more information) may be very important for Earth’s climate.
By the 1950s, studies of deep-sea cores suggested that the deep ocean temperatures had varied in the distant past. Technology also evolved to enable measurements that could confirm that the deep ocean is not only not static, but in fact quite dynamic (Swallow and Stommel’s 1960 subsurface float experiment Aries, referred to by Crease, 1962). By the late 1970s, current meters could monitor deep currents for substantial amounts of time, and the first ocean observing satellite (SeaSat) revealed that significant information about subsurface ocean variability is imprinted on the sea surface. At the same time, the first estimates of the strength of the meridional transport of heat and mass were made (Oort and Vonder Haar, 1976; Wunsch, 1978), using a combination of models and data. Since then the technological developments have accelerated, but monitoring the MOC directly remains a substantial challenge (see Chapter 5), and routine observations of the subsurface ocean remain scarce compared to that of the atmosphere.
In parallel with the technological developments yielding new insights through observations, theoretical and numerical explorations of multiple (stable or unstable) equilibria began. Chamberlain (1906) suggested that deep ocean currents could reverse in direction, and might affect climate. The idea did not gain momentum until fifty years later, when Stommel (1961) presented a mechanism, based on the opposing effects that temperature and salinity have on density, by which ocean circulation can fluctuate between states. Numerical climate models incorporating models of the ocean circulation were developed during this period, including the pioneering work of Bryan (1969) and Manabe and Bryan (1969). The idea that the ocean circulation could change radically, and might perhaps even feel the attraction of different equilibrium states, gained further support through the simulations of coupled climate models (Bryan and Spelman, 1985; Bryan, 1986; Manabe and Stouffer, 1988). Model simulations using a hierarchy of models showed that the ocean circulation system appeared to be particularly vulnerable to changes in the freshwater balance, either by direct addition of freshwater or by changes in the hydrological cycle. A strong case emerged for the hypothesis that rapid changes in the Atlantic meridional circulation were responsible for the abrupt Dansgaard-Oeschger climate change events.
Although scientists now better appreciate the strength and variability of the global-scale ocean circulation, its roles in climate are still hotly debated. Is it a passive recipient of atmospheric forcing and so merely a diagnostic consequence of climate change, or is it an active contributor? Observational evidence for the latter proposition was presented by Sutton and Allen (1997), who noticed SST anomalies propagating along the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current system for years, and therefore implicated internal oceanic time scales. Is a radical change in the MOC likely in the near future? Brewer et al. (1983) and Lazier (1995) showed that the water masses of the North Atlantic were indeed changing (some becoming significantly fresher) in the modern observational record, a phenomenon that at least raises the possibility that ocean conditions may be approaching the point where the circulation might shift into Stommel’s other stable regime. Recent developments in the ocean’s various roles in climate can be found in Chapters 5, 6, 9 and 10.
Studying the interactions between atmosphere and ocean circulations was also facilitated through continuous interactions between observations, theories and simulations, as is dramatically illustrated by the century-long history of the advances in understanding the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. This coupled air-sea phenomenon originates in the Pacific but affects climate globally, and has raised concern since at least the 19th century. Sir Gilbert Walker (1928) describes how H. H. Hildebrandsson (1897) noted large-scale relationships between interannual trends in pressure data from a worldwide network of 68 weather stations, and how Lockyer and Lockyer (1902) confirmed Hildebrandsson’s discovery of an apparent ‘seesaw’ in pressure between South America and the Indonesian region. Walker named this seesaw pattern the ‘Southern Oscillation’ and related it to occurrences of drought and heavy rains in India, Australia, Indonesia and Africa. He also proposed that there must be a certain level of predictive skill in that system.
El Niño is the name given to the rather unusual oceanic conditions involving anomalously warm waters occurring in the eastern tropical Pacific off the coast of Peru every few years. The 1957–1958 International Geophysical Year coincided with a large El Niño, allowing a remarkable set of observations of the phenomenon. A decade later, a mechanism was presented that connected Walker’s observations to El Niño (Bjerknes, 1969). This mechanism involved the interaction, through the SST field, between the east-west atmospheric circulation of which Walker’s Southern Oscillation was an indicator (Bjerknes appropriately referred to this as the ‘Walker Circulation’) and variability in the pool of equatorial warm water of the Pacific Ocean. Observations made in the 1970s (e.g., Wyrtki, 1975) showed that prior to ENSO warm phases, the sea level in the western Pacific often rises significantly. By the mid-1980s, after an unusually disruptive El Niño struck in 1982 and 1983, an observing system (the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) array; see McPhaden et al., 1998) had been put in place to monitor ENSO. The resulting data confirmed the idea that the phenomenon was inherently one involving coupled atmosphere-ocean interactions and yielded much-needed detailed observational insights. By 1986, the first experimental ENSO forecasts were made (Cane et al., 1986; Zebiak and Cane, 1987).
The mechanisms and predictive skill of ENSO are still under discussion. In particular, it is not clear how ENSO changes with, and perhaps interacts with, a changing climate. The TAR states ‘...increasing evidence suggests the ENSO plays a fundamental role in global climate and its interannual variability, and increased credibility in both regional and global climate projections will be gained once realistic ENSOs and their changes are simulated’.
Just as the phenomenon of El Niño has been familiar to the people of tropical South America for centuries, a spatial pattern affecting climate variability in the North Atlantic has similarly been known by the people of Northern Europe for a long time. The Danish missionary Hans Egede made the following well-known diary entry in the mid-18th century: ‘In Greenland, all winters are severe, yet they are not alike. The Danes have noticed that when the winter in Denmark was severe, as we perceive it, the winter in Greenland in its manner was mild, and conversely’ (van Loon and Rogers, 1978).
Teisserenc de Bort, Hann, Exner, Defant and Walker all contributed to the discovery of the underlying dynamic structure. Walker, in his studies in the Indian Ocean, actually studied global maps of sea level pressure correlations, and named not only the Southern Oscillation, but also a Northern Oscillation, which he subsequently divided into a North Pacific and a North Atlantic Oscillation (Walker, 1924). However, it was Exner (1913, 1924) who made the first correlation maps showing the spatial structure in the NH, where the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern stands out clearly as a north-south oscillation in atmospheric mass with centres of action near Iceland and Portugal.
The NAO significantly affects weather and climate, ecosystems and human activities of the North Atlantic sector. But what is the underlying mechanism? The recognition that the NAO is associated with variability and latitudinal shifts in the westerly flow of the jet stream originates with the works of Willett, Namias, Lorenz, Rossby and others in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s (reviewed by Stephenson et al., 2003). Because atmospheric planetary waves are hemispheric in nature, changes in one region are often connected with changes in other regions, a phenomenon dubbed ‘teleconnection’ (Wallace and Gutzler, 1981).
The NAO may be partly described as a high-frequency stochastic process internal to the atmosphere. This understanding is evidenced by numerous atmosphere-only model simulations. It is also considered an expression of one of Earth’s ‘annular modes’ (See Chapter 3). It is, however, the low-frequency variability of this phenomenon (Hurrell, 1995) that fuels continued investigations by climate scientists. The long time scales are the indication of potential predictive skill in the NAO. The mechanisms responsible for the correspondingly long ‘memory’ are still debated, although they are likely to have a local or remote oceanic origin. Bjerknes (1964) recognised the connection between the NAO index (which he referred to as the ‘zonal index’) and sea surface conditions. He speculated that ocean heat advection could play a role on longer time scales. The circulation of the Atlantic Ocean is radically different from that of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, in that the MOC is strongest in the Atlantic with warm water flowing northwards, even south of the equator, and cold water returning at depth. It would therefore not be surprising if the oceanic contributions to the NAO and to the Southern Oscillation were different.
Earth’s climate is characterised by many modes of variability, involving both the atmosphere and ocean, and also the cryosphere and biosphere. Understanding the physical processes involved in producing low-frequency variability is crucial for improving scientists’ ability to accurately predict climate change and for allowing the separation of anthropogenic and natural variability, thereby improving the ability to detect and attribute anthropogenic climate change. One central question for climate scientists, addressed in particular in Chapter 9, is to determine how human activities influence the dynamic nature of Earth’s climate, and to identify what would have happened without any human influence at all.