No inter-gyre pathway for sea-surface temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 11333
• Main Authors: Foukal, Nicholas P, Lozier, M Susan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 22.04.2016; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Heat; Ocean circulation; Ocean currents; Wind
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11333

Recent Lagrangian analyses of surface drifters have questioned the existence of a surface current connecting the Gulf Stream (GS) to the subpolar gyre (SPG) and have cast doubt on the mechanism underlying an apparent pathway for sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies between the two regions. Here we use modelled Lagrangian trajectories to determine the fate of surface GS water and satellite SST data to analyse pathways of GS SST anomalies. Our results show that only a small fraction of the surface GS water reaches the SPG, the water that does so mainly travels below the surface mixed layer, and GS SST anomalies do not propagate into the SPG on interannual timescales. Instead, the inter-gyre heat transport as part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation must be accomplished via subsurface pathways. We conclude that the SST in the SPG cannot be predicted by tracking SST anomalies along the GS.