Join us for a seminar from Dr. Matthew Thomas, a postdoctoral associate in Yale University’s Geology and Geophysics department, titled, “Transient behavior of the source regions and strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation under climate change.”

Abstract: “The heat transported northwards by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a major component of the climate system, in large part because of its high climate sensitivity. Along with predictions that it will weaken over the coming century, this has made it a central focus of recent

ocean observational and modeling programs. Due to the scale and complexity of the AMOC and its associated heat transport, the design of these programs often necessarily takes certain AMOC properties and relations for granted, namely that the surface source regions of deep water to the AMOC are in specific locations, that AMOC changes exhibit a one-to-one relation with heat transport, and that the changes in AMOC strength are a function of boundary forcing alone. I will present recent results from a range of modeling approaches that bring these assumptions into question, demonstrating that these relationships are not necessarily fixed in time as the climate changes.”