Northern Hemisphere climate responds sensitively to multidecadal variability in North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST). It is therefore surprising that an imprint of such variability is conspicuously absent in wintertime western European temperature, despite that Europe's climate is strongly influenced by its neighbouring ocean, where multidecadal variability in basin-average SST persists...

The local budget of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) for both high-frequency (HF, 2–6 days) and intermediatefrequency (IF, 7–29 days) eddies are evaluated for Northern Hemisphere boreal winter using the 31-year (1979/ 80–2010/11) NCEP-DOE reanalysis. A new form of EKE equation is used to isolate the kinetic energy generation/ destruction due to interactions among eddies of different timescales. The ma...

Climate simulations of the Eemian interglacial and the last glacial inception have been performed by forcing a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model with insolation patterns of these periods. The parameters of the Earth’s orbit have been set to conditions of 125 000 and 115 000 years before present (yr BP). Compared to today, these dates represent periods with enhanced and weakened...

This study analyzes a three-member ensemble of experiments, in which 0.1 Sv of freshwater was applied to the North Atlantic for 100 years in order to address the potential for large freshwater inputs in the North Atlantic to drive abrupt climate change. The model used is the GFDL R30 coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model. We focus in particular on the effects of this forcing on the...

This study analyzes 39 Atlantic and seven Pacific benthic δC records to characterize obliquity and precession responses in Atlantic overturning since 3 Ma. Regional benthic δC stacks are also analyzed. A major transition in orbital responses is observed at 1.5–1.6 Ma coincident with the first glacial shoaling of Northern Component Water. Since ∼1.5 Ma, the phases of Atlantic benthic δC records ...

With amplified warming and record sea ice loss, the Arctic is the canary of global warming. The historical Arctic warming is poorly understood, limiting our confidence in model projections. Specifically, Arctic surface air temperature increased rapidly over the early 20th century, at rates comparable to those of recent decades despite much weaker greenhouse gas forcing. Here, we show that the c...

[1] We assessed interrelations between climatic, meteorological and hydrological factors in the Balearic Sea, and identified drivers of the abundance variability of planktonic copepods over the period 1994–2003. Temporal variability in the total abundance of copepods appears to be indicative of the southern spreading of the Northern Current, and therefore of meridional transport of water masses...

This chapter reviews the progress made in the past decade in understanding tropical Atlantic climate variability. In addition to an equatorially anti-symmetric seasonal cycle forced directly by the seasonal march of the sun, Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) displays a pronounced annual cycle on the equator that results from continental monsoon forcing and air-sea interaction. This cycle i...

The relative flux of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) out of the Atlantic can be monitored in the Southern Ocean, where high 813C NADW mixes rapidly with low 813C recirculated Pacific water before forming Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). By using 813C measured in benthic foraminifera as a water mass tracer, it is shown that the Southern Ocean was dominated by Pacific water, with little NADW contr...

The North Atlantic intertidal gastropod, Littorina saxatilis (Olivi, 1792), exhibits extreme morphological variation between and within geographic regions and has become a model for studies of local adaptation; yet a comprehensive analysis of the species' phylogeography is lacking. Here, we examine phylogeographic patterns of the species' populations in the North Atlantic and one remote Mediter...