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Oceanography Brown Bag Seminar
Variability of the Large-Scale
Ocean Circulation
Thursday, March 11, 2004
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.
NCAR Mesa Lab, Chapman Room
Abstract:
The large-scale ocean circulation displays variability on many spatial
and temporal scales. On the longest timescales, the global ocean
circulation may have played a role in the variability of the Pleistocene
climate, as well as in the transition into the relatively stable Holocene.
In this seminar, I will address some issues related to the stability of
the global ocean circulation, and its variability on millennial
timescales. These problems are approached from a dynamical-systems point
of view.
First, a stability analysis of the global circulation
will be presented, which resulted in the identification of overturning
oscillations with millennial timescales. Then I will discuss the
hysteresis behaviour of the Atlantic overturning circulation in terms of
the equilibrium structure of a perturbed double-hemispheric thermohaline
system.
Finally, I
will discuss some recent work on the variability of the ACC, and its
response to high-frequency wind forcing.
For more information, contact: Lisa
Butler
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