An attempt to deconstruct the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

Abstract

The link between the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and low-frequency changes of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is investigated in three historical and five control simulations with different climate models. An AMOC intensification is followed by a positive AMO phase in each case, but the time lag and the strength of the AMO–AMOC link depend on the model and the type of simulation. In historical simulations, the link is sensitive to the method used to remove the influence of external and anthropogenic forcing from the sea surface temperature (SST) before defining the AMO. Subtracting the regression onto the global mean SST leads to better correlations between the AMO and the AMOC than linear or quadratic detrending, or removing the global mean SST, but a dynamical filter based on linear inverse modeling (LIM) yields even slightly higher correlations. The LIM filter, which decomposes the SST field into non-orthogonal normal modes that may have a physical interpretation, allows investigating whether removing Pacific links from SST improves the AMOC–AMO correlation. In several cases, there is a small improvement when removing the links to the El Niño Southern Oscillation, but the correlation becomes weaker in one historical simulation, so no firm conclusion can be drawn. Additionally removing the modes associated with the Pacific decadal variability strongly degrades the representation of AMOC changes by the AMO in one model, and it tends to reduce the AMOC–AMO correlation in most others, reflecting the strong relation between the Pacific and the Atlantic at decadal scales. The LIM-based filter is finally applied to observed SSTs, confirming that the AMO amplitude is smaller and its recent positive phase weaker than when the global effects are represented by a linear trend. When the global signal is removed, the observed AMO leads the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, but does not significantly lag it, as suggested earlier, stressing the need to carefully remove global changes when investigating low-frequency interbasin connections.