AN ESTIMATE OF GLOBAL OCEAN CIRCULATION AND HEAT FLUXES

ALTHOUGH ocean circulation and the consequent exchange of heat and gas es with the atmosphere exert a strong influence on climate, discussion s of global circulation have previously been highly schematic(1-3) (in voking laminar flow patterns that ignore the turbulent nature of the r eal flow), non-quantitative and/or based upon mutually inconsistent re gional studies(1,8). Here we present a dynamically and kinematically c onsistent estimate of the magnitude and structure of global ocean circ ulation and its associated heat fluxes, derived by integrating hydrogr aphic velocity data over the rapid spatial variations that they show. We find no single overturning cell, but instead a complex and probably time-varying circulation pattern. The simplest intel pretation sugges ts that there are two nearly independent cells: one connecting overtur ning irt the Atlantic Ocean to other basins through the Southern Ocean , and the other connecting the Indian and Pacific basins through the I ndonesian archipelago.