Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 14.5°&thinsp;N in 1989 and 2013 and 24.5°&thinsp;N in 1992 and 2015: volume, heat, and freshwater transports

Fu, Yao; Karstensen, Johannes; Brandt, Peter

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-589-2018

Articles | Volume 14, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-589-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-589-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 4

Research article

|

10 Jul 2018

Research article |

| 10 Jul 2018

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 14.5° N in 1989 and 2013 and 24.5° N in 1992 and 2015: volume, heat, and freshwater transports

Yao Fu, Johannes Karstensen, and Peter Brandt

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Final revised paper (published on 10 Jul 2018)
Preprint (discussion started on 09 Nov 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Referee Comment', Anonymous Referee #1, 17 Dec 2017
- AC2: 'Response to the anonymous Referee # 1', Yao Fu, 12 Apr 2018
RC2: 'Review on "Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 14.5° N and 24.5° N during 1989/1992 and 2013/2015: volume, heat and freshwater fluxes"', Anonymous Referee #2, 30 Jan 2018
- AC1: 'Response to the anonymous referee #2', Yao Fu, 12 Apr 2018

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Yao Fu on behalf of the Authors (12 Apr 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (14 Apr 2018) by Markus Meier

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (11 May 2018)

RR by Anonymous Referee #4 (11 May 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

This manuscript examines changes in hydrographic properties and transports across two latitudes for two realizations. I particularly enjoyed the examination of box model sensitivity to hydrographic section choice, reference level velocities, and Ekman velocity.

Overall, the paper was clearly and well written, and adds significantly to our knowledge of large-scale AMOC changes (or lack thereof) over the last few decades. It suffers from not addressing a recent publication, Frajka-Williams et al. (2018), which was likely published after this study was well underway. While there is significant overlap between Frajka-Williams et al. and this study, there are also significant differences such that this paper retains unique and important contributions. Regardless, however, the manuscript should be returned for minor revision so that the authors can address the recent paper and discuss overlaps.
Frajka-Williams, E., M. Lankhorst, J.Koelling, and U. Send, 2018: Coherent Circulation Changes in the Deep North Atlantic From 16N and 26N Transport Arrays, JGR-Oceans, doi:10.1029/2018JC013949

Other minor notes:

Pg. 11 lines 5-6: uNADW is also formed in the Irminger Sea; e.g., Frob et al. (2016), "Irminger Sea deep convection injects oxygen and anthropegic carbon to the ocean interior", Nature Comm., doi: 10.1038/ncomms13244.

Pg. 14 lines 23-24: However, how much water is removed from the Atlantic via evaporation that subsequently precipitates in the Pacific, carried by Trade Winds across Central America? This is nitpiky, as it almost certainly won't change the solutions significantly, but it means the net tranport across the 14.5N section is likely closer to ~0.0+-0.6 Sv.

Pg. 23 line 4: "... transport would be even southward, ..." What does "even" mean here?

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (31 May 2018) by Markus Meier

AR by Yao Fu on behalf of the Authors (08 Jun 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (22 Jun 2018) by Markus Meier

AR by Yao Fu on behalf of the Authors (24 Jun 2018)

Short summary

Hydrographic analysis in the Atlantic along 14.5° N and 24.5° N shows that between the periods of 1989/92 and 2013/15, the Antarctic Intermediate Water became warmer and saltier at 14.5° N, and that the Antarctic Bottom Water became lighter at both latitudes. By applying a box inverse model, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) was determined. Comparison among the inverse solution, GECCO2, RAPID, and MOVE shows that the AMOC has not significantly changed in the past 20 years.