Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-953-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-953-2022
Research article
 | 
06 Jul 2022
Research article |  | 06 Jul 2022

Causes of the 2015 North Atlantic cold anomaly in a global state estimate

Rachael N. C. Sanders, Daniel C. Jones, Simon A. Josey, Bablu Sinha, and Gael Forget

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Cited articles

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Short summary
In 2015, record low temperatures were observed in the North Atlantic. Using an ocean model, we show that surface heat loss in December 2013 caused 75 % of the initial cooling before this "cold blob" was trapped below the surface. The following summer, the cold blob re-emerged due to a strong temperature difference between the surface ocean and below, driving vertical diffusion of heat. Lower than average surface warming then led to the coldest temperature anomalies in August 2015.