Evaluation of the impact of oceanic heat transport in the North Atlantic and Barents sea on the Northern Hemispheric climate

Abstract

In this work, we evaluate the impact of terminated oceanic heat flux in the North Atlantic and Barents Sea on the Northern Hemisphere climate in January by numerical experiments with a coupled model of atmospheric general circulation and a thermodynamic model of the upper mixed layer of the ocean. We analyze the variations in the atmospheric circulation and near-surface temperature. We found that the termination of the oceanic heat flux leads to a depression in atmospheric centers of action in the Northern Hemisphere (by 3-5 hPa) and a significant cooling over the continents with the strongest temperature decrease down to -10 degrees C in northwestern Eurasia.