Ocean Science
Ocean Science
OS
Articles | Volume 16, issue 4
Articles | Volume 16, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-979-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-979-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 16, issue 4
Research article
 | 
27 Aug 2020
Research article |  | 27 Aug 2020

A new method to assess mesoscale contributions to meridional heat transport in the North Atlantic Ocean

Andrew Delman and Tong Lee

Data sets

Parallel Ocean Program 2.1 source code Los Alamos National Laboratory and National Center for Atmospheric Research http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/cesm1.0/

Global ocean gridded L4 sea surface heights and derived variables reprocessed (1993–ongoing), SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_L4_REP_OBSERVATIONS_008_047 Copernicus Marine Service http://marine.copernicus.eu/services-portfolio/access-to-products/

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Short summary
The oceans play an important role in moving heat between the equatorial and polar regions, with both large current systems and smaller eddies contributing to this heat transport. This analysis separates the contribution of the larger-scale and eddy-scale flows in the North Atlantic, finding that eddy-scale flows account for 25–35 % of the heat transport in middle latitudes near 40° N. The study also shows how the year-to-year variability of eddies contributes to heat transport changes at 40° N.
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