Atlantic Ocean baroclinic heat flux at 24 to 26 degrees N

The spatially varying, interior geostrophic baroclinic heat flux component of the total meridional oceanic heat flux near 24 degrees N in the Atlantic Ocean is examined using four transatlantic hydrographic sections including the October 1957 DISCOVERY II IGY section, the September 1981 ATLANTIS sec tion, the August 1992 HESPERIDES section, the February 1998 RONALD H. BROWN section and the 1982 Levitus and the Lozier, Owens, Curry climatologies. T he 1992 section is complemented by shorter western boundary sections obtain ed concurrently during the Trident cruise. We find an average southward bar oclinic heat flux of 0.9 +/- 0.3 PW with an annual cycle amplitude of +/- 0 .3 PW. More than 90% of the annual cycle is captured within 30 degrees of t he western boundary.