convener:Ingo Richter(JAMSTEC Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), Hiroki Tokinaga(Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University), Andrea Taschetto(University of New South Wales), Noel S Keenlyside(Geophysical Institute Bergen)

The Atlantic Ocean is subject to pronounced climate variations that occur on a wide range of time scales, including interannual variability in the equatorial and subtropical regions, and Atlantic multi-decadal variability (AMV), which has been linked with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). These are connected to other climate variations across the globe. The AMV, e.g., has long been known to have global impacts, such as changes in the Indian, Asian and South American summer monsoons, and changes in the Pacific associated with the "global hiatus". Interannual variability in the equatorial and subtropical Atlantic has also been shown to influence global climate, including over Asia, while the freshening of the North Atlantic by melting of the Greenland ice cap is expected to influence all ocean basins via atmospheric bridges. Likewise, misrepresentation of the Atlantic can have global ramifications in climate models. Misrepresentation of the AMOC, e.g., has been associated with model biases in the entire Northern Hemisphere.

This session seeks observational, modeling, and theoretical studies on the mechanisms that determine the Atlantic mean climate and variability, as well as the predictability and global impacts of such variability. We also seek studies that evaluate climate model performance in the region. Topics include atmosphere-ocean-cloud interactions in the tropical Atlantic; two-way interaction with other ocean basins; relationships between tropical and mid/high latitude variability; air-sea interaction along the Gulf Stream and its influence on cyclones and storm track evolution; variability in the Benguela upwelling region; influence of Agulhas leakage on the South Atlantic; coupled climate model biases in the region and their impacts; AMOC and long-term climate change.