Stochastic Forcing of the North Atlantic Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation. Part I: A Diagnostic Analysis of the Ocean Response to Stochastic Forcing

Abstract

At midlatitudes, the magnitude of stochastic wind stress forcing due to atmospheric weather is comparable to that associated with the seasonal cycle. Stochastic forcing is therefore likely to have a significant influence on the ocean circulation. In this work, the influence of the stochastic component of the wind stress forcing on the large-scale, wind-driven circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean is examined. To this end, a quasigeostrophic model of the North Atlantic was forced with estimates of the stochastic component of wind stress curl obtained from the NCAR Community Climate Model. Analysis reveals that much of the stochastically induced variability in the ocean circulation occurs in the vicinity of the western boundary and some major bathymetric features. Thus, the response is localized even though the stochastic forcing occurs over most of the ocean basin. Using the ideas of generalized stability theory, the stochastically induced response in the ocean circulation can be interpreted as a linear interference of the nonorthogonal eigenmodes of the system. This linear interference process yields transient growth of stochastically induced perturbations. By examining the model pseudospectra, it is seen that the nonnormal nature of the system enhances the transient growth of perturbation enstrophy and therefore elevates and maintains the variance of the stochastically induced circulations in the aforementioned regions. The primary causes of nonnormality in the enstrophy norm are bathymetry and the western boundary current circulation.