Influence of the Gulf Stream on the troposphere

Shoshiro Minobe (), Akira Kuwano-Yoshida, Nobumasa Komori, Shang-Ping Xie and Richard Justin Small
Additional contact information
Shoshiro Minobe: Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University
Akira Kuwano-Yoshida: Earth Simulator Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Nobumasa Komori: Earth Simulator Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Shang-Ping Xie: International Pacific Research Center,
Richard Justin Small: International Pacific Research Center,

Nature, 2008, vol. 452, issue 7184, 206-209

Abstract: Rising heat The Gulf Stream is a warm Atlantic current that transports heat northward, keeping Western Europe significantly warmer than North America in winter. It is known to influence short-term weather phenomena such as surface winds and cyclone formation, but its effects on longer-term climate and at higher levels in the atmosphere are poorly understood. Now a combination of weather analyses, satellite data and an atmospheric general circulation model reveals that the Gulf Stream's influence is felt well above the near-surface portion of the atmosphere. The current anchors a tall wall of atmospheric upward motion that penetrates into the upper troposphere and supports deep raining clouds. This provides a pathway by which the Gulf Stream can affect local climate, and possibly climate in remote regions via an effect on planetary wave propagation. The cover graphic represents surface current speeds in blue-white colours (white is the fastest) and upward wind velocities in yellow-red colours (red for stronger winds), along with land-surface topography in eastern North America.

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06690 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:452:y:2008:i:7184:d:10.1038_nature06690

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature06690

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().