Abstract
Despite the importance of meridional oceanic heat transport for the understanding of the climate system1,2, most existing hemispheric and ocean basin estimates are necessarily indirect. Annual averages have been obtained for individual basins from sea–air heat exchange results3–7, and for each hemisphere from measurements of net radiation at the top of the atmosphere and calculations of atmospheric energy transport8,9. The latter approach, when used in conjunction with atmospheric and oceanic energy storage information, has provided monthly mean estimates of the meridional heat transport by the total Northern Hemisphere water body, but not its separate oceans10. I now present an estimate of the annual variation of meridional heat transport in the Atlantic Ocean, based on large sets of sea–air interaction and subsurface temperature data, which suggests that, with the possible exception of November–December, the heat flux is northward.
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Lamb, P. Estimate of annual variation of Atlantic Ocean heat transport. Nature 290, 766–768 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/290766a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/290766a0
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