Journal of Ocean Engineering and Science

Volume 1, Issue 1

(3)There is no real evidence for a diminishing trend of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

A. Parker ^a,∗, C.D. Ollier ^b
^a School of Engineering and Physical Science, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
^bSchool of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, Crawley WA, Australia
Received 16 June 2015; received in revised form 11 September 2015; accepted 27 September 2015
Available online 25 January 2016

Abstract
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is part of the great ocean “conveyor belt” that circulates heat around the globe. Since the early 2000s, ocean sensors have started to monitor the AMOC, but the measurements are still far from accurate and the time window does not permit the separation of short term variability from a longer term trend. Other works have claimed that global warming is slowing down the AMOC, based on models and proxies of temperatures. Some other observations demonstrate a stable circulation of the oceans. By using tide gauge data complementing recent satellite and ocean sensor observations, the stability of the AMOC is shown to go back to 1860. It is concluded that no available information has the due accuracy and time coverage to show a clear trend outside the inter-annual and multi-decadal variability in the direction of increasing or decreasing strength over the last decades.
© 2016 Shanghai Jiaotong University. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Ocean circulation; Conveyor belt; Global warming; Climate change.