Is the wind stress forcing essential for the meridional overturning circulation?

[ 1 ] We use a global couple d atm osphere-ocean sea-ice model of interm ediate complexity to demonstrate that wind- forcing i s a crucial element to sustain meridional overturning flow i n t he Atlantic. Neglecting wind-stress in our multi- century-lon g simulations leads to a complete shutdown of the conveyor belt ci r culation. This r esult may have tremendous impacts f or an assessment of the sensitivity of 2-d clima t e models which typicall y do not capture wind-driven gyres. It is argued that wind effects may be a key element in determining the f ate and length of a collapsed THC state. Possible paleo implications will be discusse