The Role of Sea-ice Processes on the Probability of AMOC Transitions

Abstract: Recent simulations performed with the Community Earth System Model (CESM) have suggested a crucial role of sea-ice processes in AMOC hysteresis behaviour under varying surface freshwater forcing. Here, we further investigate this issue using additional CESM simulations and a novel conceptual ocean-sea-ice box model. The CESM simulations show that the presence of sea ice gives rise to the existence of statistical equilibrium states with a weak AMOC strength. This is confirmed in the conceptual model, which captures the same AMOC hysteresis behaviour as in the CESM simulation and where steady states are computed versus forcing parameters. In the conceptual model, transition probabilities between the different equilibrium states are determined using rare event techniques. The transition probabilities from a strong AMOC state to a weak AMOC state increase when considering sea-ice processes and indicate that sea ice promotes these transitions. On the other hand, sea ice strongly reduces the probabilities of the reverse transition from a weak AMOC state to a strong AMOC state and this implies that sea ice also limits AMOC recovery. The results here indicate that sea-ice processes play a dominant role in AMOC hysteresis width and influence transition probabilities between the different equilibrium states.