Seasonality of meridional overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic: density flux as a metric for understanding the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

Fox, Alan D.; Fraser, Neil J.; Cunningham, Stuart A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1735-2025

Articles | Volume 21, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1735-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1735-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 4

Research article

|

11 Aug 2025

Research article |

| 11 Aug 2025

Seasonality of meridional overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic: density flux as a metric for understanding the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

Alan D. Fox, Neil J. Fraser, and Stuart A. Cunningham

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1735-2025-supplement

Data sets

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present P. Berrisford et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

VIKING20X-JRA-short: daily to multi-decadal ocean dynamics under JRA55-do atmospheric forcing K. Getzlaff and F. U. Schwarzkopf https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/VIKING20XJRAshort

Meridional Overturning Circulation Observed by the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) Array from August 2014 to June 2020 Y. Fu et al. https://doi.org/10.35090/gatech/70342

Model code and software

Python code and data for producing the results described in: Seasonality of meridional overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic: density flux as a metric for understanding AMOC Alan D. Fox https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15350863

Short summary

Understanding the seasonality of the overturning circulation is important for mitigating the impacts of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) changes on European weather and climate. We examine the seasonal cycle in various common measures of overturning and find each to be dominated by different processes, not necessarily reflective of the processes driving overturning. We advocate for the use of a density flux measure as a valuable addition to understanding AMOC.