Hannover 2003 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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UP: Umweltphysik

UP 2: Bodenphysik und Hydrologie, Ozean und Kryosphäre, Agrarphysik – Poster

UP 2.2: Poster

Donnerstag, 27. März 2003, 16:00–18:00, Lichthof

How stable is the Thermohaline Ocean Circulation? — •Thilo Gross and Ulrike Feudel — ICBM, Carl von Osiietzky Universität, 26111 Oldenburg

The thermohaline circulation (THC) in the atlantic ocean transports large amounts of heat to northern latitudes. Since the THC is driven by temperature and salinity gradients, it’s dynamics depends on atmospheric temperatures and global freshwater flow. We investigate a interhemispheric box model of the THC from a dynamical systems point of view. Bifurcation analysis reveals that there is a risk of a sudden breakdown. Codimension one Hopf and Turning Point bifurcations are computed which meet in a codimension two Takens-Bogdanov bifurcation. A global warming scenario is discussed using three parameter bifurcation diagrams.