North Atlantic response to observed North Atlantic oscillation surface heat flux in three climate models

We investigate how the ocean responds to 10-yr persistent surface heat flux forcing over the subpolar North Atlantic (SPNA) associated with the observed winter NAO in three CMIP6-class coupled models. The experiments reveal a broadly consistent ocean response to the imposed NAO forcing. Positive NAO forcing produces anomalously dense water masses in the SPNA, increasing the southward lower (denser) limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in density coordinates. The southward propagation of the anomalous dense water generates a zonal pressure gradient overlying the models' North Atlantic Current that enhances the upper (lighter) limb of the density-space AMOC, increasing the heat and salt transport into the SPNA. However, the amplitude of the thermohaline process response differs substantially between the models. Intriguingly, the anomalous dense -water formation is not primarily driven directly by the imposed flux anomalies, but rather dominated by changes in isopycnal outcropping area and associated changes in surface water mass transformation (WMT) due to the background surface heat fluxes. The forcing initially alters the outcropping area in dense -water formation regions, but WMT due to the background surface heat fluxes through anomalous outcropping area decisively controls the total dense -water formation response and can explain the intermodel amplitude difference. Our study suggests that coupled models can simulate consistent mechanisms and spatial patterns of decadal SPNA variability when forced with the same anomalous buoyancy fluxes, but the amplitude of the response depends on the background states of the models.