Entropy versus APE production: On the buoyancy power input in the oceans energy cycle

This letter argues that the current controversy about whether W buoyancy , the power input due to the surface buoyancy fluxes, is large or small in the oceans stems from two distinct and incompatible views on how W buoyancy relates to the volume‐integrated work of expansion/contraction B . The current prevailing view is that W buoyancy should be identified with the net value of B , which current theories estimate to be small. The alternative view, defended here, is that only the positive part of B , i.e., the one converting internal energy into mechanical energy, should enter the definition of W buoyancy , since the negative part of B is associated with the non‐viscous dissipation of mechanical energy. Two indirect methods suggest that by contrast, the positive part of B is potentially large.