Figure: Estimates of the global water storage in oceanic, terrestrial and
atmospheric reservoirs and the fluxes among them, using data of
Baumgartner and Reichel [1975].
Figure: A map of evaporation minus precipitation (E-P) over the global
ocean, in centimeters per year. This is a composite of
Schmitt et al. [1989] for the Atlantic and Baumgartner and
Reichel [1975] for the other oceans.
Figure: The meridional transport of water by the global ocean and atmosphere,
in Sverdrups (= 10
m
/s). The oceanic estimate derives from the integration of
the E-P value shown in Figure 2, plus river discharges into the
ocean. The actual meridional transport by rivers alone is small, an
estimate for the Mississippi is shown. The atmospheric transport of
water vapor comes from Peixoto and Oort [1983].
Figure: The net transport of water by the oceans, according to
Wijffels et al [1992]] (Top). Contrast this scheme with
that of Baumgartner and Reichel [1975] (Bottom).
Figure: Meridional tranport of water in the Atlantic ocean, according to
three different surface flux climatologies. All are summed relative to an
estimated Arctic southward export due to the Bering Strait throughflow and
the water budget of the Arctic itself. The climatologies are those of
Baumgartner and Reichel [1975] (solid line), Schmitt et al [1989] (dashed
line) and the combination of Isemer and Hasse [1987] evaporation estimates
with Dorman and Bourke [1981] precipitation values (dotted line). Also
shown are ocean based estimates at 24 N by Hall and Bryden [1982]
and 11 N by Friedrichs and Hall [1993].
Figure: The Goldsbrough-Stommel circulation in the global ocean,
according to Huang and Schmitt [1993]. Each arrow shows
the horizontal mass flux integrated over a 5 square, in Sverdrups.
Along the left edge of each basin, there is a curve indicating the
northward transport within the western boundary (in Sv) which is required
to close the circulation. The Pacific to Atlantic transport via the
Arctic is shown, and is included in the boundary current transports. The
Pacific to Indian transport is only depicted schematically.