Role of AMOC in greenhouse gas-induced changes of tropical basin interaction
Both modeling and observational-based studies show that as the climate becomes warmer, the interactions among tropical ocean basins change on decadal to multi-decadal timescales. These changes can modulate the climates in far-reaching areas. Here, by analyzing a set of specially designed experiments using CESM2, we show that the response of the tropical basins to increased greenhouse gas forcing can be modulated by the changes in AMOC. The weakening of AMOC changes the location of ITCZ, which induces variations in the amplitudes and frequency of tropical modes of variability, thus affecting the Walker circulation and changing the characteristics of the tropical basin interaction. Without the AMOC weakening under a global warming background, the response of the tropical basin interactions is much weaker.