The dominant mechanisms of variability in Atlantic ocean heat transport in a coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM

The variability of the Atlantic meridional ocean heat transport (OHT) has been diagnosed from a simulation of a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model (GCM), and the mechanisms responsible for this variability have been elucidated. Interannual variability is dominated by windstress-driven Ekman fluctuations, which account for 50.3% of the OHT variance. By contrast, decadal and multidecadal variability in Atlantic OHT is dominated by a mixed thermohaline/gyre mode driven by variations in buoyancy fluxes and windstress curl. It accounts for 55.6% of low pass filtered OHT variance. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has a significant role in both the interannual mode and the low frequency mode, but it is not the only important driver. A notable feature of both modes is significant changes in the tropical atmosphere and ocean. We highlight a number of potential mechanisms involved in the tropical-extratropical teleconnections.