Formation of global inter-ocean water circulation.

Abstract

Interocean circulation compensates the losses of heat and fresh water from the surface of Atlantic Ocean. Due to the difference in densities of Northern parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the steric level differential of about 60 cm is formed, where its main reason is the salinity difference. The estimations of meridional heat and fresh water transfer in the oceans are analyzed, considering water exchange in Bering Strait and seas of Indonesia. The different ways of heat and fresh water return to the Atlantic Ocean in the system of interocean circulation are shown: heat transfer is determined by the flow through seas of Indonesia, Southern part of the Indian Ocean and Agulhas Current, and fresh water comes from the Arctic Ocean and Antarctic transitional waters of low salinity. The possible reasons of changes in meridional circulation rate due to changes of hydrologic balance of the Northern Atlantic are also explored.