The importance of the ocean heat transport and convergence in the Gulf Stream region

AIR-sea heat exchange plays an important role in variations in sea surface temperature (SST) and heat content in most regions of the ocean. However, the low correlations between surface fluxes and the rate of change of SST or heat content in the western boundary current regions suggest the importance of oceanic processes in these regions. Large heat content variations in the Gulf Stream region have been observed in observations from radar altimeters. The analysis of the variations in heat content and surface heat flux on interannual and longer time scales indicates that the heat content changes force surface heat flux: a large heat release to the atmosphere is related to a high heat content. Detailed heat balance studies in the Gulf Stream region (1992-1999), both from three-dimensional thermodynamic model and XBT data [deleted], suggest that the heat content changes are controlled by the oceanic advection. The changes in oceanic advection appear to be forced by the large scale wind field. Comparison with A study in the Kuroshio Extension region suggests that variations in the two boundary current regions are coherent and that these coherent variations in the two oceans are correlated with the Arctic Oscillation.