Data Assimilation Office, NASA/GSFC

Using individual observations from the COADS Compressed Marine Reports (Slutz et al. 1985), we have computed revised global climatologies and anomalies of wind stress and heat fluxes. The flux computations utilize a revised Beaufort equivalent scale for estimated wind speeds, use wind speed reduced from an average anemometer height to 10 m above sea level, and include Large and Pond (1981, 1982) transfer coefficients. The magnitude of the revised climatological mean wind stress is smaller than estimates by previous authors, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. The revised heat fluxes appear to overestimate insolation and underestimate evaporation. Using linear inverse theory, we have constrained the heat fluxes to balance globally. These constrained heat fluxes produce heat transport in the Atlantic in agreement with oceanographic measurements