A Global Diagnostic of Interocean Mass Transfers

Abstract

An objective and quantitative estimate of all mean annual interocean mass transfers together with a picture of the associated mean pathways is presented. The global ocean circulation transfers mass, heat, and salinity between the various ocean subbasins on timescales that are likely to interact with the evolution of climate regimes. As an effort to consolidate our knowledge of the present global ocean climatological state, the output of a complex and realistic ocean model is analyzed with newly developed Lagrangian techniques to produce a global circulation scheme that helps and completes our physical understanding of the three-dimensional ocean circulation.