Estimates of global ocean volume transports during 1960 through 2001

Abstract

An estimate of global time-varying ocean volume transports is provided for the period 1960-2001 as it results from the German ECCO (GECCO) synthesis. Results confirm previously discussed mean-state ocean circulation systems, encompassing an upper meridional cell in the Atlantic with sinking in the North Atlantic connected to a lower meridional cell with sinking around Antarctica in the Pacific and Atlantic. Decadal to interdecadal variability as well as long-term trends of global ocean transport, analyzed over the course of the 42 years, appear as a reorganization of time-mean circulation structures, including the layer transports in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the circulation involving the Indo-Pacific exchange. Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.