WATER MASS FORMATION FROM REVISED COADS DATA

Surface heat and freshwater fluxes from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosp here Data Set are revised and used diagnostically to compute air-sea t ransformation rates on density, temperature; and salinity classes over the domain of the data. Maximum rates occur over the warmest water an d over mode waters, which are the dominant result of air-sea interacti on. Transformation in different oceans is accordingly distinguished by temperature and salinity, just as water masses in different oceans ar e so distinguished. Over the entire domain, to about 30 degrees S, app roximately 80 x 10(6) m(3) s(-1) of warm and cool water are transforme d by air-sea fluxes, on annual average. Calculations for several seas in the North Atlantic, where deep water is thought to originate, are a lso presented.