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Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) Studied in Two CMIP5 Climate Models

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An early online release of a new study in Journal of Climate—authored by Rym Msadek of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) and colleagues at GFDL, University of Miami-RSMAS and National Center for Atmospheric Research—is now available. 

The paper compares results from two CMIP5 class models with observations from the trans-Atlantic RAPID array. The comparison of results from the GFDL CM2.1 and NCAR CCSM4 models show that both models underestimate the observed total mean meridional heat transport (MHT) by more than 10 percent, despite a slightly stronger than observed MOC magnitude. The cause of the MHT underestimate was found to be a biased gyre heat transport, a result that is common to many models. 

The study was funded in part by the Earth System Science (ESS) program of NOAA’s Climate Program Office. 

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