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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Increase in Agulhas leakage due to poleward shift of Southern Hemisphere westerlies
Nature, Volume 462, No. 7272, Year 2009
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Description
The transport of warm and salty Indian Ocean waters into the Atlantic Oceanĝ€"the Agulhas leakageĝ€"has a crucial role in the global oceanic circulation and thus the evolution of future climate. At present these waters provide the main source of heat and salt for the surface branch of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC). There is evidence from past glacial-to-interglacial variations in foraminiferal assemblages and model studies that the amount of Agulhas leakage and its corresponding effect on the MOC has been subject to substantial change, potentially linked to latitudinal shifts in the Southern Hemisphere westerlies. A progressive poleward migration of the westerlies has been observed during the past two to three decades and linked to anthropogenic forcing, but because of the sparse observational records it has not been possible to determine whether there has been a concomitant response of Agulhas leakage. Here we present the results of a high-resolution ocean general circulation model to show that the transport of Indian Ocean waters into the South Atlantic via the Agulhas leakage has increased during the past decades in response to the change in wind forcing. The increased leakage has contributed to the observed salinification of South Atlantic thermocline waters. Both model and historic measurements off South America suggest that the additional Indian Ocean waters have begun to invade the North Atlantic, with potential implications for the future evolution of the MOC. © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Biastoch, Arne
Germany, Kiel
Geomar - Helmholtz-zentrum Für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Böning, Claus W.
Germany, Kiel
Geomar - Helmholtz-zentrum Für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Schwarzkopf, Franziska U.
Germany, Kiel
Geomar - Helmholtz-zentrum Für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Lutjeharms, Johann R.E.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Statistics
Citations: 328
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature08519
ISSN:
00280836
e-ISSN:
14764687