Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The role of the PMOC in modulating the deglacial shift of the ITCZ

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on an energy-constraint framework, the effect of the Pacific meridional overturning circulation (PMOC) has been investigated on the meridional shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). During Heinrich Event 1, the global ITCZ displaces southward in response to a shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). However, the PMOC resumes and induces an enhanced northward meridional heat transport (MHT). Further analyses show that the resumption of the PMOC and its associated MHT can relieve the decrease of oceanic cross-equatorial heat transport by the collapsed AMOC and lower the compensating decline of atmospheric cross-equatorial meridional heat transport by 0.09PW, leading to an offset of the southward shift of the global ITCZ by 0.5°. Regionally the developed PMOC does not affect the southward movement of the Atlantic ITCZ much since the latter is dominated by the collapsed AMOC that induces the change of Atlantic MHT. In contrast, the PMOC-induced northward heat transport largely abates the hemispheric temperature contrast in the tropical Pacific and reduces the southward ITCZ shift by as much as 5° in the eastern Pacific.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alley RB, MacAyeal DR (1994) Ice-rafted debris associated with binge/purge oscillations of the Laurentide ice sheet. Paleoceanography 9:503–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arbuszewski JA, Cléroux C, Bradtmiller L, Mix A (2013) Meridional shifts of the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone since the last glacial maximum. Nat Geosci 6:959–962

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayliffe LK, Gagan MK, Zhao J-X, Drysdale RN, Hellstrom JC, Hantoro WS, Griffiths ML, Scott-Gagan H, Pierre ES, Cowley JA, Suwargadi BW (2013) Rapid interhemispheric climate links via the Australasian monsoon during the last deglaciation. Nat Commun 4. doi:10.1038/ncomms3908

  • Bischoff T, Schneider T (2014) Energetic constraints on the position of the intertropical convergence zone. J Clim 27:4937–4951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle EA, Keigwin L (1987) North Atlantic thermohaline circulation during the past 20,000 years linked to high-latitude surface temperature. Nature 330:35–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broccoli A, Dahl K, Stouffer R (2006) Response of the ITCZ to Northern Hemisphere cooling. Geophys Res Lett 33:L01702. doi:10.1029/2005GL024546

    Google Scholar 

  • Broecker WS (1998) Paleocean circulation during the last deglaciation: a bipolar seesaw? Paleoceanography 13:119–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiang JCH, Bitz CM (2005) Influence of high latitude ice cover on the marine intertropical convergence zone. Clim Dyn 25:477–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins WD, Bitz CM, Blackmon ML, Bonan GB, Bretherton CS, Carton JA, Chang P, Doney SC, Hack JJ, Henderson TB, Kiehl JT, Large WG, McKenna DS, Santer BD, Smith RD (2006) The community climate system model: CCSM3. J Clim 19:2122–2143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruz FW, Stephen JB, Ivo K, Warren DS, Mathias V, Andrea OC, José AF, Pedro LSD, Oduvaldo V (2005) Insolation-driven changes in atmospheric circulation over the past 116,000 years in subtropical Brazil. Nature 434:63–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donohoe A, Marshall J, Ferreira D, McGee D (2013) The relationship between ITCZ location and atmospheric heat transport across the equator: from the seasonal cycle to the Last Glacial Maximum. J Clim 26:3597–3618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donohoe A, Marshall J, Ferreira D, Armour K, McGee D (2014) The interannual variability of tropical precipitation and interhemispheric energy transport. J Clim 27:3377–3392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escobar J, Hodell DA, Brenner M, Curtis JH, Gilli A, Müller AD, Anselmetti FS, Ariztegui D, Grzesik DA, Pérez L, Schwalb A, Guilderson TJ (2012) A ~ 43-ka record of paleoenvironmental change in the Central American lowlands inferred from stable isotopes of lacustrine ostracods. Quat Sci Rev 37:92–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman AR, Hwang Y-T, Chiang JCH, Frierson DMW (2013) The interhemispheric temperature asymmetry over the 20th century and in future projections*. J Clim 26:5419–5433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frierson DMW, Hwang Y-T (2012) Extratropical influence on ITCZ shifts in slab ocean simulations of global warming**. J Clim 25:720–733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frierson DMW, Hwang Y-T, Fuckar NS, Seager R, Kang SM, Donohoe A, Maroon EA, Liu X, Battisti DS (2013) Contribution of ocean overturning circulation to tropical rainfall peak in the Northern Hemisphere. Nat Geosci 6:940–944

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons FT, Oppo DW, Mohtadi M, Rosenthal Y, Cheng J, Liu Z, Linsley BK (2014) Deglacial δ18O and hydrologic variability in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. Earth Planet Sci Lett 387:240–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He F (2011) Simulating transient climate evolution of the last deglaciation with CCSM3. Ph.D thesis, 171 pp., University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Held IM (2001) The partitioning of the poleward energy transport between the tropical ocean and atmosphere. J Atmos Sci 58:943–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu A, Otto-Bliesner BL, Meehl GA, Han W, Morrill C, Brady EC, Briegleb B (2008) Response of thermohaline circulation to freshwater forcing under present day and LGM conditions. J Clim 21:2239–2258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu A, Meehl GA, Han W, Abe-Ouchi A, Morrill C, Okazaki Y, Chikamoto MO (2012a) The Pacific-Atlantic seesaw and the bering strait. Geophys Res Lett L03702, doi:10.1029/2011GL050567

  • Hu A, Meehl GA, Han W, Timmermann A, Otto-Bliesner B, Liu Z, Washington WM, Large W, Abe-Ouchi A, Kimoto M, Lambeck K, Wu B (2012b) Role of the bering strait on the hysteresis of the ocean conveyor belt circulation and glacial climate stability. Proc Natl Acad Sci 109:6417–6422. doi:10.1073/pnas.1116014109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang Y-T, Frierson DMW (2013) Link between the double intertropical convergence zone problem and cloud biases over the Southern Ocean. Proc Nat Acad Sci 110:4935–4940

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kageyama M, Merkel U, Otto-Bliesner BL, Prange M, Abe-Ouchi A, Lohmann G, Roche DM, Singarayer J, Swingedouw D, Zhang X (2013) Climatic impacts of fresh water hosing under Last Glacial Maximum conditions: a multi-model study. Clim Past 9:935–953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kang SM, Held IM, Frierson DMW, Zhao M (2008) The response of the ITCZ to extratropical thermal forcing: idealized slab-ocean experiments with a GCM. J Clim 21:3521–3532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kang SM, Frierson DMW, Held IM (2009) The tropical response to extratropical thermal forcing in an idealized GCM: the importance of radiative feedbacks and convective parameterization. J Atmos Sci 66:2812–2827

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanner LC, Burns SJ, Cheng H, Edwards RL (2012) High-latitude forcing of the South American summer monsoon during the last glacial. Science 335:570–573

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiefer T, Sarnthein M, Erlenkeuser H, Grootes PM, Roberts AP (2001) North Pacific response to millennialscale changes in ocean circulation over the last 60 kyr. Paleoceanography 16:179–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knutti R, Flückiger J, Stocker T, Timmermann A (2004) Strong hemispheric coupling of glacial climate through freshwater discharge and ocean circulation. Nature 430:851–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs U, Timmermann A (2007) Tropical air–sea interactions accelerate the recovery of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation after a major shutdown. J Clim 20:4940–4956

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leduc G, Vidal L, Tachikawa K, Rostek F, Sonzogni C, Beaufort L, Bard E (2007) Moisture transport across Central America as a positive feedback on abrupt climatic changes. Nature 445:908–911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu W, Liu Z (2014) Assessing the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation of the past, present and future. J Meteor Res 28:803–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Otto-Bliesner BL, He F, Brady EC, Tomas R, Clark PU, Carlson AE, Lynch-Stieglitz J, Curry W, Brook E, Erickson D, Jacob R, Kutzbach J, Cheng J (2009) Transient simulation of last deglaciation with a new mechanism for Bølling-Allerød warming. Science 325:310–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu W, Liu Z, Hu A (2013) The stability of an evolving Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Geophys Res Lett 40:1562–1568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu W, Liu Z, Cheng J, Hu H (2014a) On the stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the past deglaciation. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-014-2153-1

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu W, Liu Z, Brady EC (2014b) Why is the AMOC mono-stable in Coupled General Circulation Models? J Clim 27:2427–2443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manabe S, Stouffer RJ (1988) Two stable equilibria of a coupled ocean–atmosphere model. J Clim 1:841–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall J, Donohoe A, Ferreira D, McGee D (2014) The ocean’s role in setting the mean position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. Clim Dyn 42:1967–1979

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGee D, deMenocal PB, Winckler G, Stuut JBW, Bradtmiller LI (2013) The magnitude, timing and abruptness of changes in North African dust deposition over the last 20,000 yr. Earth Planet Sci Lett 371:163–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGee D, Donohoe A, Marshall J, Ferreira D (2014) Changes in ITCZ location and cross-equatorial heat transport at the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich Stadial 1, and the mid-Holocene. Earth Planet Sci Lett 390:69–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McManus JF, Francois R, Gherardi JM, Keigwin LD, Brown-Leger S (2004) Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes. Nature 428:834–837

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menviel L, England MH, Meissner KJ, Mouchet A, Yu J (2014) Atlantic-Pacific seesaw and its role in outgassing CO2 during Heinrich events. Paleoceanography 29:58–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikolajewicz U, Crowley TJ, Schiller A, Voss R (1997) Modelling teleconnections between the North Atlantic and North Pacific during the Younger Dryas. Nature 387:384–387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikolajewicz U, Groger M, Maier-Reimer E, Schurgers G, Vizcaino M, Winguth AME (2007) Long-term effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions simulated with a complex earth system model. Clim Dyn 28:599–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okazaki Y, Timmermann A, Menviel L, Harada N, Abe-Ouchi A, Chikamoto MO, Mouchet A, Asahi H (2010) Deepwater formation in the North Pacific during the last glacial termination. Science 329:200–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okumura YM, Deser C, Hu A, Timmermann A, Xie S-P (2009) North pacific climate response to freshwater forcing in the subarctic North Atlantic: oceanic and Atmospheric Pathways. J Clim 22:1424–1445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppo DW, Lehman SJ (1995) Suborbital timescale variability of North Atlantic deep water during the past 200,000 years. Paleoceanography 10:901–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otto-Bliesner B, Brady EC (2010) The sensitivity of the climate ersponse to the magnitude and location of freshwater forcing: last glacial maximum experiments. Quat Sci Rev 29:56–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peltier WR (2004) Global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice-age Earth- The ICE-5G (VM 2) model and GRACE. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 32:111–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson LC, Haug GH, Hughen KA, Rohl U (2000) Rapid changes in the hydrologic cycle of the tropical Atlantic during the last glacial. Science 290:1947–1951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saenko OA, Schmittner A, Weaver AJ (2004) The Atlantic-Pacific seesaw. J Clim 17:2033–2038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarnthein M, Kiefer T, Grootes PM, Elderfield H, Erlenkeuser H (2006) Warmings in the far northwestern Pacific promoted pre-Clovis immigration to America during Heinrich event 1. Geology 34:141–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiller A, Mikolajewicz U, Voss R (1997) The stability of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation in a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model. Clim Dyn 13:325–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shakun JD, Clark PU, He F, Marcott SA, Mix AC, Liu Z, Otto-Bliesner BL, Schmittner A, Bard E (2012) Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation. Nature 484:49–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stouffer RJ et al (2006) Investigating the causes of the response of the thermohaline circulation to past and future climate changes. J Clim 19:1365–1387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann A, Krebs U, Justino F, Goosse H, Ivanochko T (2005) Mechanisms for millennial-scale global synchronization during the last glacial period. Paleoceanography 20: PA4008, doi:10.1029/2004PA001090

  • Timmermann A, Okumura Y, An SI, Clement A, Dong B, Guilyardi E, Hu A, Jungclaus JH, Renold M, Stocker TF, Stouffer RJ, Sutton R, Xie S-P, Yin J (2007) The influence of a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on ENSO. J Clim 20:4899–4919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellinga M, Wood R, Gregory JM (2002) Processes governing the recovery of a perturbed thermohaline circulation in HadCM3. J Clim 15:764–779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Augusto SA, Edwards RL, Cheng H, Cristalli PS, Smart PL, Richards DA, Shen C-C (2004) Wet periods in northeastern Brazil over the past 210 kyr linked to distant climate anomalies. Nature 432:740–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weldeab S, Lea DW, Schneider RR, Andersen N (2007) 155,000 years of West African monsoon and ocean thermal evolution. Science 316:1303–1307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu L, Li C, Yang C, Xie S-P (2008) Global teleconnections in response to a shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. J Clim 21:3002–3019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie RC, Marcantonio F (2012) Deglacial dust provenance changes in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific and implications for ITCZ movement. Earth Planet Sci Lett 317:386–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie S-P, Miyama T, Wang YQ, Xu HM, de Szoeke SP, Small RJO, Richards KJ, Mochizuki T, Awaji T (2007) A regional ocean-atmosphere model for eastern Pacific climate: toward reducing tropical biases. J Clim 20:1504–1522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang H, Dai H (2014) Effect of wind forcing on the meridional heat transport in a coupled climate model: equilibrium response. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-014-2393-0

  • Yang H, Wang Y, Liu Z (2013) A modelling study of the Bjerknes compensation in the meridional heat transport in a freshening ocean. Tellus A 65: 18480. doi:10.3402/tellusa.v65i0.18480

  • Yeager S, Shields C, Large W, Hack J (2006) The low-resolution CCSM3. J Clim 19:2545–2566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshimori M, Broccoli AJ (2008) Equilibrium response of an atmosphere–mixed layer ocean model to different radiative forcing agents: global and zonal mean response. J Clim 21:4399–4423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshimori M, Broccoli AJ (2009) On the link between Hadley circulation changes and radiative feedback processes. Geophys Res Lett 36:L20703. doi:10.1029/2009GL040488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R, Delworth TL (2005) Simulated tropical response to a substantial weakening of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. J Clim 18:1853–1860

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

WL is supported by NSF AGS-1249145. A portion of this study was supported by the Regional and Global Climate Modelling Program (RGCM) of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (BER), Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC02-97ER62402. This research used computing resources of the Climate Simulation Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation; the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center which are both supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, CASPO, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA

    Wei Liu

  2. Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

    Aixue Hu

Authors
  1. Wei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aixue Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Liu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, W., Hu, A. The role of the PMOC in modulating the deglacial shift of the ITCZ. Clim Dyn 45, 3019–3034 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2520-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2520-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation