What drives the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation?

The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is one of the dominant climate modes on multidecadal timescales with persistent global climate effects. This study examines the atmosphere-ocean-ice feedback mechanisms for driving the AMO using long-term observational datasets such as GISTEMP, HADCRU, MLOST, NCEI, and 20CV2 reanalysis. The results show that the AMO is driven by robust feedbacks among ocean, atmosphere and sea ice, and by interactions between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. A schematic will be presented summarizing the feedback mechanisms.