Course 12.951

The Meridional Overturning Circulation of the Atlantic Ocean:
 A Reading Course

Meeting Time: Friday 3:00-4:30 PM   
Syllabus
Instructors:    Raf Ferrari
                      Jeff Scott

Class Feb 8: Overview Lecture by Raf and Jeff

Wunsch, C. (2002) What is the thermohaline circulation? Science, 298, 1179-1181.
Eady, E.T. (1957) The general circulation of the atmosphere and oceans. In: The Earth and Its Atmosphere, ed. D.R. Bates. New York, Basic Books, 130-151.

Class Feb 15: Scaling and AMOC Dynamics in an Idealized Hemisphere 

Bryan, F. (1987) Parameter sensitivity of primitive ocean general circulation models. JPO 17, 970-985.  (Wilken-Jon von Appen)
Marotzke, J. (1997) Boundary mixing and the dynamics of three-dimensional thermohaline circulations. JPO 27, 1713-1728. (Julian Schanze)

Class Feb 22: Diapyncal Mixing, Convection, and Energetics of the AMOC I

Marotzke J., and J.R. Scott (1999) Convective mixing and the thermohaline circulation. JPO 29, 2962-2970. (Ru Chen)
Wunsch, C., and R. Ferrari (2004) Vertical Mixing, Energy, and the general circulation of the oceans. Annual Rev. Fluid Mech. 36, 281-314. (guest presentation by Alberto Naveira Garabato)

Class Feb 29: Diapyncal Mixing, Convection, and Energetics of the AMOC II 

Nilsson J., G. Broström, and G. Walin (2003) The thermohaline circulation and vertical mixing: does weaker density stratification give stronger overturning? JPO 33, 2781-2795.  (Ben Marzeion)
Hughes, G.O. and R.W. Griffiths (2006) A simple convective model of the global overturning circulation, including effects of entrainment into sinking regions Ocean Modelling 12, 46-79. (Cimarron Wortham)

No Class Mar 7 (Ocean Sciences Week)

Class Mar 14: AMOC Dynamics I - moving our understanding beyond a single hemisphere
Klinger B.A., and J. Marotzke (1999) Behavior of double hemisphere flows in a single basin. JPO 29, 382-399. (Ryan Abernathey)
Vallis, G.K., (2000) Large-scale circulation and production of stratification: Effects of wind geometry, and diffusion. JPO 30, 933-954. (Jinbo Wang)
(see also Gill, A.E., and K. Bryan (1971) Effects of geometry on the circulation of a three-dimensional southern-hemisphere ocean model, DSR 18, 685-721.) 

Class Mar 21: AMOC Dynamics  II - focus on Southern Ocean winds and the role of the ACC
Toggweiler, J.R. and B. Samuels (1995) Effect of Drake Passage on the global thermohaline circulation. DSR 42, 477-500. (Holly Dail)
Gnanadesikan, A. (1999) A simple predictive model for the structure of the ocean pycnocline. Science 283, 2077-2079. (Daniel Enderton)

No Class Mar 28 (MIT Spring Break)

Class Apr 4: AMOC Dynamics  III - the role of eddies in the Southern Ocean
Marshall, J., and T. Radko. (2006) A model of the upper branch of the meridional overrturning of the southern ocean. Progress in Oceanography 70, 331- 345. (Cimarron Wortham)
Henning, C.C., and G.K. Vallis (2005) The effects of mesoscale edies on the stratification and transport of an ocean with a circumpolar channel. JPO, 35, 880-896. (Wilken-Jon von Appen)

Class Apr 11: Multiple Equilibria I: basic mechanism as demonstrated in box models
Broecker, W.S. et al. (1985) Does the ocean-atmosphere system have more than one stable mode of operation? Nature 315, 21-26. (Holly Dail)
Stommel, H. (1961) Thermohaline convection with two stable regimes of flow. Tellus 13, 224-230. (Brian Rose)
(see also box model in Rooth, C. (1982) Hydrology and ocean circulation. Progress in Oceanography, 11, 131-149)

Class Apr 18: Multiple Equilibria II: verification of the phenomenon in GCMs
Bryan, F. (1986) High-latitude salinity effects and interhemispheric thermohaline circulations. Nature 323, 301-304. (Ru Chen)
Manabe, S., and R.J. Stouffer (1988) Two stable equilibria of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. J. Climate 1, 841-866. (Julian Schanze)
(see also Marotzke, J., and J. Willebrand (1991) Multiple equilibria of the global thermohaline circulation. JPO 21, 1372-1385.)

Class Apr 25: Thermal Boundary Conditions  and Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling 
Haney, R.L. (1971) Surface Thermal Boundary Condition for Ocean Circulation Models. JPO 1, 241-248. (Malte Jansen)
Rahmstorf, S., and J. Willebrand (1995) The role of temperature feedback in stabilizing the thermohaline circulation. JPO 25, 787-805. (Jinbo Wang)

Class May 2: Observations of the MOC (class time 3:00-3:55)
Wunsch, C., and P. Heimbach (2008) The Global Zonally Integrated Ocean Circulation (MOC), 1992-2006: Seasonal and Decadal Variability, submitted. (guest presentation by Carl Wunsch)

Class May 9: Freshwater Forcing and Global Warming Experiments
Rahmstorf, S. (1996) On the freshwater forcing and transport of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Climate Dynamics 12, 799-811. (Ben Marzeion)
Stouffer, R.J., and S. Manabe (2003) Equilibrium response of thermohaline circulation to large changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Climate Dynamics 20, 759-773. (Kelly Klima)

Class May 16: (final class) The Carbon Cycle and the AMOC
Sarmiento, J.L., N. Gruber, M.A. Brzezinski, and J.P. Dunne (2004) High-latitude controls of thermocline nutrients and low latitude biological productivity. Nature 427, 56-60.
Schmittner, A. (2005) Decline of the marine ecosystem caused by a reduction in the Atlantic overturning circulation. Nature 434, 628-633.