RAPID-WATCH News Archive
This news archive contains news about research, meetings and other activities in the RAPID-WATCH programme (2008-2014). The web site for the RAPID Programme (2001-2007) is still available, with information about RAPID research activities from the projects funded under the that programme.
International Science Meeting on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)
12-15 July 2011 in Bristol, UK.
Observations and models have suggested links between variability in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and global climate patterns. Reduction in the strength of the overturning may have played a key role in rapid climate change in the past and could have the potential to so in the future. The meeting will explore our scientific understanding of Atlantic variability on a range of time scales, with a main focus of the role of the meridional overturning circulation. A joint initiative between the UK Natural Environment Research Council's Rapid Climate Change programme (RAPID) and the US AMOC Program, it has four main themes:
- What do we know about present and past changes in the AMOC on seasonal to millennial time scales?
- How does the AMOC influence ocean, atmosphere and terrestrial climate and ecosystems?
- How will the AMOC change over the next few decades and over the 21st century?
- Outlook and Challenges.
For more information and to register for e-mail updates, see the meeting website at www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapid/ic2011/.
New Method for Estimating Variability in the Atlantic Overturning Circulation
Left: Sea surface temperature in January 2009. Right: Diagram of the Atlantic overturning. Click on images for larger figures.
At present there is no monitoring system to measure the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at latitudes from about 40 °N to 65 °N. 'However, recent research shows that the strength of the overturning can be determined from the gain in the density of surface waters as a result of heat loss and evaporation to the atmosphere. The research, which builds on results from an earlier Rapid funded proposal, has been carried out by J.Grist, S. Josey and R.Marsh at the National Oceanography Centre,Southampton under the NERC Oceans 2025 programme Theme 1. This is the basis for a new method used to estimate the strength of the AMOC at these latitudes.
Stronger evaporation and cooling means leads to greater formation of North Atlantic Deep Water, which sinks and flows back south at depth. Greater deep water formation increases this flow, and strengthens the overturning at higher latitudes. For more information see news article on the NOCS web site.
Presentations from the RAPID Annual Meeting 2009 now on-line
30 July 2009
The RAPID Annual Meeting was held in Edinburgh 6-9 July. It included presentations from both RAPID and RAPID-WATCH projects. Participants in the associated Palaeo-Climate Workshop are producing a joint paper to present results from RAPID (2001-2007) and plans for future collaborations. Presentations from the workshop are available from the Agenda and Abstract list to be found on the Annual Meeting web page.
First public data from 26°N
1 June 2009
The first 3.5 years of data from the RAPID array at 26°N is now available from the project website. To download follow links to DATA on the top menu bar. The data show that the MOC is highly variable, with large seasonal fluctuations that vary from year to year.
New RAPID-WATCH projects
April 2009
Five projects have been selected for funding in the last RAPID-WATCH AO. They will work closely with the Hadley Centre and international partners to determine and interpret recent changes in the Atlantic MOC, assess the risk of rapid climate change, and investigate the potential for predictions of the MOC and its impacts on climate.
Latest cruise to recover moorings at 26°N
November 2008
The photo on the right shows RAPID scientists recovering moorings on the RAPID cruise to the array at 26° North, in November, 2008.