Observed transport variability
of the Atlantic Subtropical Cells and their connection to tropical SST variability
Franz Philip Tuchen (ftuchen@geomar.de), JF Lübbecke, P Brandt, Y Fu (JGR: Oceans, 2020) 6
8 10 12 14 16
Transport conv. (Sv) a)
RG ORA-geostr ORA-total
-8 -4 0
b) 10N-WB
-8 -4 0
Meridional Transport (Sv)
c) 10N-INT
0 4 8
d) 11°S-mooring 10S-WB
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 0
4 8
e) 10S-INT
6 8 10 12 14 16
Transport conv. (Sv) a)
RG ORA-geostr ORA-total
-8 -4 0
b) 10N-WB
-8 -4 0
Meridional Transport (Sv)
c) 10N-INT
0 4 8
d) 11°S-mooring 10S-WB
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 0
4 8
e) 10S-INT
Subtropical Cells (STCs):
Shallow overturning circulations ventilating the
tropical thermocline
Seasonal variability dominates, but …
STC variability modulates tropical SST variability
• … on time scales longer than 5 years
• … through variability of the interior transport convergence
1 2
3
… low-frequent variability is also
important …
Chang et al. (2006)
