North Atlantic Cold Spot

[iwantatr8]

Hi Folks,

I thought that as here has been a lot of discussion over in the consequences forum over the Hansen et al paper https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1327.0.html perhaps it's time to start reviewing the situation with regards to the north atlantic cold spot.

On the basis that this cold area is formed by the meltwater from all our favorite glaciers here on the Greenland forum I thought that this was the best place to start collecting data.
Starting with some SST anomolies

A.

 

[Neven]

Slightly adjusted your topic title, iwantatr8, to make it clearer for people not in the know.

[AbruptSLR]

On the basis that this cold area is formed by the meltwater from all our favorite glaciers here on the Greenland forum I thought that this was the best place to start collecting data.

As none of the AR5 projections consider such cooling of SSTA values; it is interesting to wonder what GMST would be now if such cool SSTA areas (in the North Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean) did not exist now and did not increase in size in the future.  While this cooling impact on GMST values may help policy makers achieve their 2C limit, rather than making us all safer, such cool areas actually increase our climate change risks.

[iwantatr8]

An interesting post on this over at realclimate:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2016/05/amoc-slowdown-connecting-the-dots/?wpmp_tp=1

Alongwith a very good animation of ocean currents -
http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/flash-video?vid=cm26_sst_v7&w=940

[A-Team]

Fabulous animation, if only there had been more focus on the North Atlantic, west Greenland and Arctic.

On Greenland glaciers being the source of melt freshwater affecting AMOC overturning, the attribution to specific glaciers and reconciliation with Irminger and other well-known currents often seems supported by hand-waving. Indeed the currents don't go over cold spot way so a correlation with overall mass loss (or stable isotopes) on the whole of Greenland is not causation.

In particular some parts of SE Greenland are gaining mass as snowfall is exceeding ice loss, the question being where is all this moisture coming from and how is this changing. I can see that Greenland is nearby and a logical suspect but what is ruling out floe melt carried down the Fram by the East Greenland Current?

[AbruptSLR]

Fabulous animation, if only there had been more focus on the North Atlantic, west Greenland and Arctic.

On Greenland glaciers being the source of melt freshwater affecting AMOC overturning, the attribution to specific glaciers and reconciliation with Irminger and other well-known currents often seems supported by hand-waving. Indeed the currents don't go over cold spot way so a correlation with overall mass loss (or stable isotopes) on the whole of Greenland is not causation.

In particular some parts of SE Greenland are gaining mass as snowfall is exceeding ice loss, the question being where is all this moisture coming from and how is this changing. I can see that Greenland is nearby and a logical suspect but what is ruling out floe melt carried down the Fram by the East Greenland Current?

I concur that the animation was fabulous; however, it was a particularly painful reminder to me that NOAA has not yet required their modelers to adequately consider the cold spots in the Southern Ocean shown very clearly in the attached CCI-Reanalyzer SH 5-day SAT Anom forecast issued May 20 2016, that shows the 2m air temperature influence of large amounts of meltwater coming from: the Ronne-Filchner, the Ross and the Amery, ice shelves.  Hopefully, the ACME researchers will be smart enough to include this influence when they begin their runs in July 2016.

Edit: Note that I have now opened a sister thread for Southern Ocean Cold Spots in the Antarctic folder.

[prokaryotes]

Abrupt cooling over the North Atlantic https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14375

[prokaryotes]

Abrupt cooling over the North Atlantic https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14375

Summary of the new study and earlier findings