Circumpolar Deep Water Circulation and Variability in a Coupled Climate Model

Abstract

Abstract The natural variability of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is analyzed using a long-term integration of a coupled climate model. The variability is decomposed using a standard EOF analysis into three separate modes accounting for 68% and 82% of the total variance in the upper and lower CDW layers, respectively. The first mode exhibits an interbasin-scale variability on multicentennial time scales, originating in the North Atlantic and flowing southward into the Southern Ocean via North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Salinity dipole anomalies appear to propagate around the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on these time scales with the strengthening and weakening of NADW formation. The anomaly propagates northward from the midlatitude subsurface of the South Atlantic and sinks in the North Atlantic before flowing southward along the CDW isopycnal layers. This suggests an interhemispheric connection in the generation of the first CDW variability mode. The second mode shows a localized θ−S variability in the Brazil–Malvinas confluence zone on multidecadal to centennial time scales. Heat and salt budget analyses reveal that this variability is controlled by meridional advection driven by fluctuations in the strength of the Deep Western Boundary and the Malvinas Currents. The third mode suggests an Antarctic Intermediate Water source in the South Pacific contributing to variability in upper CDW. It is further found that NADW formation is mainly buoyancy driven on the time scales resolved, with only a weak connection with Southern Hemisphere winds. On the other hand, Southern Hemisphere winds have a more direct influence on the rate of NADW outflow into the Southern Ocean. The model’s spatial pattern of θ−S variability is consistent with the limited observational record in the Southern Hemisphere. However, some observations of decadal CDW θ−S changes are beyond that seen in the model in its unperturbed state.