CLIVAR AMOC Task Team Telecon in September 2022

The 2nd CLIVAR AMOC Task Team was organized on 7th September 2022, with the participation of Eleanor Frajka-Williams, Eric Chassignet, Gokhan Danabasoglu, Brad de Young, Helen Pillar, Rong Zhang, Maria Paz Chidichimo, Meric Srokosz, Paquita Zuidema, and Jose Santos and Jing Li from ICPO. There were three topics covered in the telecon: updates from recent AMOC meetings; overview of new AMOC projects; and plans for the future AMOC TT activities. The major uptakes from the telecon are:

  • The 2022 US AMOC Science Team meeting was organized from 25-28 April 2022 in Woods Hole, USA and virtually. This was the last meeting of the US AMOC ST, and the group will sunset by the end of 2022. The final report of the US AMOC ST is being prepared and supposed to be completed by the end of 2022, in which, several items to be passed o the CLIVAR AMOC TT will be included.
  • There are potential funding opportunities to support AMOC related observations and modeling activities with the US Inflation Reduction Act and Climate Act passed recently.
  • The EuroSea/OceanPredict workshop on “Ocean Prediction and Observing System Design” was organized from 29 June to 1 July 2022, Met Office UK. Eric presented the CLIVAR AMOC Task Team including the near-term plans during the workshop.  A nature run was proposed.
  • A Royal Society Meeting on Atlantic Overturning: new observations and challenges will be organized on 5-6 December 2022 in London, UK. A review paper is being prepared by Eleanor and Meric on how the AMOC observing system has been designed in the past. This can be an output of the CLIVAR AMOC TT.  
  • The All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) was organized in Washington DC to follow Galway Statement and Belem Statement, and an ‘All-Atlantic Declaration’ was signed during the meeting.
  • OSNAP is in a re-application phase. The decision for funding from US and UK will be made in next spring/summer. Two concerns received from the funding agencies: the minimum array for OSNAP, and to expand the AMOC measurement by including BGC variables.
  • SAMOC: Cruises were cancelled during COVID in the past years; a review paper is being finalized. A call for Full-Atlantic arrays: SAMOC + OSNAP.
  • The AtlantOS AMOC Task Team wants to revitalize themselves, and try to address the questions on: why the AMOC matters? What are the societal interest and relevance of the AMOC?
  • The WP5: Optimizing AMOC Observation of the Explaining and Predicting the Ocean Conveyer (EPOC) is being led by Eleanor. The project officially started in July 2022, and the real field work in the state of the next year.
  • A list of existing AMOC science projects will be maintained and served as a resource for a wider community.
  • A workshop on optimizing AMOC observations is being planned by the CLIVAR AMOC TT in 2023. The workshop will emphasize the whole-Atlantic approach for AMOC observation, as well as bringing the community together.  The scientiifc organizing committee, possible topics and potential funding opportunities for the workshop were discussed.
  • The next CLIVAR AMOC TT telecon will be organized in January/February 2023.