Linkages have been suggested between observed interdecadal variability of sea-ice and salinity in the North Atlantic. A plausible mechanism for generating such variability through the interaction of sea-ice and the thermohaline circulation (THC) is examined in a zonally-averaged THC model coupled to a thermodynamic ice model. A self-sustaining interdecadal oscillation arises through the feedbacks between salinity anomalies induced by the sea-ice melting-freezing process and anomalous meridional heat transport associated with the THC. The oscillation time scale is not associated with any oceanic time scales but fundamentally depends on ice-THC coupling. The period is quite robust to stochastic forcing, although the regularity is strongly affected. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993