The role of freshwater fluxes in the thermohaline circulation: Insights from a laboratory analogue

Abstract Regime transitions in the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) and the rate of formation of deep and bottom waters are thought to be sensitive to changes in the freshwater flux at high latitudes. We model convective overturning in the presence of a surface freshwater input using laboratory experiments that are inverted relative to the ocean: we establish an equilibrium circulation forced by differential heating and cooling along the base of a box and perturb this flow by adding a stabilizing saltwater input at the ‘polar’ end of the box. An initially stable layer forms near the source of the salinity anomaly as a ‘polar halocline’. The subsequent circulation is governed largely by the ratio of salinity and thermal buoyancy supply. For small values of this ratio we observe periodic formation and breakdown of the halocline. Larger values of the flux ratio lead to subthermocline intrusions and stable layering laterally throughout the basin, isolating the bulk of the water column from the forcing boundary. The shutdown of deep overturning and formation of a shallow circulation occurs at a salinity buoyancy input of order 0.1 times the rate of loss of thermal buoyancy. This salinity buoyancy is then comparable to the buoyancy that forces the deep sinking plume below the thermocline in steady-state overturning. When the salinity buoyancy flux is removed, the circulation slowly returns to its original state.