Stratosphere may be cause of many ocean variations

Science : A reexamination of simulations run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has revealed a potential connection between stratospheric winds and ocean currents. Because the stratosphere is 10–50 km above Earth’s surface, scientists had not thought it directly influenced ocean currents and temperatures. However, Thomas Reichler and his colleagues at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City compared the simulations of 4000 years of atmospheric and ocean conditions with the last 30 years of weather and ocean data. They discovered that there were regular two-month periods of sudden warming and changes in the strength and direction of stratospheric winds over the Arctic. Reichler says that a region south of Greenland was particularly susceptible to stratospheric temperature changes and that, over decades, the changes disrupted the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. He believes that up to 30% of the oscillations in oceanic conditions can be explained by the stratospheric winds.