The Scotland–Canada overturning array (SCOTIA): twenty years of meridional overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic

Fox, Alan D.; Fraser, Neil J.; Burmeister, Kristin; Jones, Sam C.; Cunningham, Stuart A.; Drysdale, Lewis A.; Dilmahamod, Ahmad Fehmi; Karstensen, Johannes

doi:10.5194/os-22-1439-2026

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1439-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1439-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

08 May 2026

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 08 May 2026

The Scotland–Canada overturning array (SCOTIA): twenty years of meridional overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic

Alan D. Fox, Neil J. Fraser, Kristin Burmeister, Sam C. Jones, Stuart A. Cunningham, Lewis A. Drysdale, Ahmad Fehmi Dilmahamod, and Johannes Karstensen

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1439-2026-supplement

Data sets

Code/data used in the production of Fox et al. 2026. "The Scotland-Canada overturning array (SCOTIA): twenty years of meridional overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic''. In Ocean Science Sam C. Jones et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19682610

Global Ocean Physics Reanalysis EU Copernicus Marine Service Information https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00021

Global Ocean Gridded L4 Sea Surface Heights and Derived Variables Reprocessed 1993-Ongoing Copernicus Marine Service https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00148

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

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

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

Editorial statement

There is growing evidence that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is on course to reach a tipping point, a prospect that is increasingly shaping scientific, policy, and media discourse. Here, the authors double the length of the observed AMOC record in the North Atlantic subpolar gyre to cover 2004-2024. They find that the subpolar AMOC exhibited no weakening trend in that time. The methodology could provide a blueprint for a lightweight, reliable and sustainable subpolar AMOC observing system for the coming decades.