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Climatological annual cycle of ocean heat content
Author(s) -
Antonov John I.,
Levitus Sydney,
Boyer Timothy P.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl018851
Subject(s) - ocean heat content , annual cycle , southern hemisphere , climatology , environmental science , northern hemisphere , pacific ocean , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , ocean current , geology
Ocean heat content is a major component of earth's energy budget. This paper presents estimates of the climatological annual cycle of upper (0–250 m layer) ocean heat content based on World Ocean Atlas 2001. The land‐ocean ratio is responsible for the geographical distribution of the annual cycle of ocean heat content. Globally, the amplitude of annual harmonic of upper ocean heat content is 3.7 × 10 22 J for the World Ocean, 10.2 × 10 22 J for the Southern Hemisphere, and 6.5 × 10 22 J for the Northern Hemisphere.