Updated time series of the AMOC observed at 26°N now available

The time series of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) at 26°N has recently been extended up to October 2012.  The AMOC has been observed continuously at 26°N since April 2004 and following the latest update eight-and-a-half years of data are now available.   The AMOC times series is freely available online and the project investigators encourage its use by others

About one petawatt of heat carried by the AMOC is released to the atmosphere between 26°N and 50°N and has important impacts on the climate of the North Atlantic region.  The first observational estimates of the basin-wide AMOC were based on transatlantic hydrographic sections.  These observations provided important information about the structure and magnitude of the AMOC, but, with only a handful of these ‘snapshots’, insight into the variability was limited, and so in the early 2000’s a dedicated observing system was proposed to make continuous measurements of the variability of the AMOC at 26°N.

The AMOC and its component parts are monitored by combining a transatlantic array of moored instruments with submarine-cable based measurements of the Gulf Stream and satellite derived Ekman transport.   Details and results of the program are given in a number of papers the most recent of which describes the multi-year changes revealed by the recent data www.ocean-sci-discuss.net/10/1619/2013/osd-10-1619-2013.html

The 26°N array is a collaboration between the National Oceanography Centre UK, the University of Miami USA and the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory USA.  Data for the AMOC volume transport is available from www.rapid.ac.uk/rapidmoc, the corresponding heat transport (up to 2011) is available from www.rsmas.miami.edu/users/mocha and Florida Current transports estimates are available from www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/floridacurrent.