Description: Seasonal meridional ocean temperature fluxes were computed in a regional study of the eastern North Atlantic Ocean east of 30°30′W between 12°30′N and 39°30′N for the upper 1500 m of the ocean. Historical oceanographic and meteorological measurements are the data base for the direct method of computing temperature fluxes. Seasonal changes in temperature fluxes caused by the seasonality of Ekman transport and geostrophic transport are strongly dependent on latitude. Between 19N and 25N the meridional temperature flux shows low seasonality. In this area the permanent subtropical gyre and the stable trade-winds result in low seasonal changes. North of 25N the Ekman transport shows large seasonal variations. The latitude of the transition of southward Ekman temperature flux to northward Ekman temperature flux is located at 28N in winter. In summer it is found at 38N. The seasonal variability of the meridional temperature fluxes in the subtropics north of 25N is influenced by this annual cycle in Ekman transport, as well as by the southward displacement in summer and the northward movement of the Azores Current in winter. The tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean shows seasonal changes both in the geostrophic and Ekman transports. South of 17N the total temperature flux is always to the north. The largest meridional temperature fluxes, with more than 0.7 PW, are found in fall at 12°30′N directed northward, and in winter at 33°30′N to the south. In general the subtropical eastern North Atlantic Ocean transports heat to the south all the year round, while in the tropics heat is transported to the north. The seasonality in the eastern Atlantic Ocean is found to be different from seasonal variations in global investigations. The seasonal heat budget computations show a heat gain in the ocean in the area investigated from April to September and a heat loss from October to March. Over the whole year the eastern North Atlantic gains about 0.09 PW from the atmosphere.

Description: In a regional study of the eastern North Atlantic Ocean east of 35°W between 41°N and 8°N the mean meridional ocean temperature flux was computed from oceanographic and meteorological measurements using the direct method. In the area of the permanent subtropical gyre between 36°N and 22°N, a southward geostrophic temperature flux dominates. The Ekman temperature flux is weak and changes from a southward flux north of 32°N to a northward flux south of 32°N. In the area of the North Equatorial Current and in the tropics the Ekman temperature flux is comparable in magnitude to the geostrophic temperature flux. Therefore, the total temperature flux changes to a northward direction at 20°N, where the geostrophic transport is still to the south, and becomes large in the tropics, where both components show northward temperature fluxes. The heat flux divergence for the area investigated leads to an ocean heat gain of 0.19 PW. A comparison of annual mean temperature fluxes with temperature fluxes of east-west CTD sections from the winter half-year shows a small seasonal signal in the geostrophic temperature flux in the subtropical gyre but large differences in the tropics. The seasonal changes for the Ekman temperature fluxes are weak.

Description: The monthly mean wind stress climatology of Hellerman and Rosenstein (HR) is compared with the climatology of Isemer and Hasse (IH), which represents a version of the Bunker atlas (BU) for the North Atlantic based on revised parameterizations. The drag coefficients adopted by IH are 21% smaller than the values of BU and HR, and the calculation of wind speed from marine estimates of Beaufort force (Bft) is based on a revised Beaufort equivalent scale similar to the scientific scale recommended by WMO. The latter choice significantly increases wind speed below Bft 8, and effectively counteracts the reduction of the drag coefficients. Comparing the IH stresses with HR reveals substantially enhanced magnitudes in the trade wind region throughout the year. At 15°N the mean easterly stress increases from about 0.9 (HR) to about 1.2 dyn cm−1 (IH). Annual mean differences are smaller in the region of the westerlies. In winter, the effect due to the reduced drag coefficient dominates and leads to smaller stress values in IH; during summer season the revision of the Beaufort equivalents is more effective and leads to increased stresses. Implications of the different wind stress climatologies for forcing the large-scale ocean circulation are discussed by means of the Sverdrup transport streamfunction (ψs): Throughout the subtropical gyre a significant intensification of ψs takes place with IH. At 27°N, differences of more than 10 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) are found near the western boundary. Differences in the seasonality of ψs are more pronounced in near-equatorial regions where IH increase the amplitude of the annual cycle by about 50%. An eddy-resolving model of the North Atlantic circulation is used to examine the effect of the different wind stresses on the seasonal cycle of the Florida Current. The transport predicted by the numerical model is in much better agreement with observations when the circulation is forced by IH than by HR, regarding both the annual mean (29.1 Sv vs 23.2 Sv) and the seasonal range (6.3 Sv vs 3.4 Sv).