Role of the Labrador Current in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation response to greenhouse warming

Xuan Shan; Shantong Sun; Lixin Wu; Michael Spall

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-51449-9

Role of the Labrador Current in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation response to greenhouse warming

Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 27;15(1):7361. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51449-9.

Authors

Xuan Shan^{1

2}, Shantong Sun³, Lixin Wu^{4

5}, Michael Spall⁶

Affiliations

¹ Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China. [email protected].
² Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA. [email protected].
³ Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, China. [email protected].
⁴ Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.
⁵ Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, China.
⁶ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.

Abstract

Anthropogenic warming is projected to enhance Arctic freshwater exportation into the Labrador Sea. This extra freshwater may weaken deep convection and contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) decline. Here, by analyzing an unprecedented high-resolution climate model simulation for the 21st century, we show that the Labrador Current strongly restricts the lateral spread of freshwater from the Arctic Ocean into the open ocean such that the freshwater input has a limited role in weakening the overturning circulation. In contrast, in the absence of a strong Labrador Current in a climate model with lower resolution, the extra freshwater is allowed to spread into the interior region and eventually shut down deep convection in the Labrador Sea. Given that the Labrador Sea overturning makes a significant contribution to the AMOC in many climate models, our results suggest that the AMOC decline during the 21st century could be overestimated in these models due to the poorly resolved Labrador Current.