Ocean heat content (OHC) - Atlantic Ocean 4DAtlantic-OHC
Regional heat content change over the Atlantic Ocean with the space geodetic approach : "4DAtlantic-OHC" The Ocean Heat Content (OHC) is estimated from the measurement of the thermal expansion of the ocean based on differences between the total sea-level content derived from altimetry measurements and the mass content derived from gravimetry data, noted “altimetry-gravimetry”.
Users will be mainly interested in:
- Monthly gridded heat content change
- OHC trends and their uncertainties
The strategy established at global scale (see associated ressource "Ocean heat content (OHC) and earth energy imbalance (EEI)") has been extended and further developed at regional scale both for the data generation and the uncertainty estimate. In particular, halosteric sea level variations due to saline contraction which are not negligible at regional scale are estimated from in situ data and removed from the steric sea level variations from altimetry minus gravimetry. Versions 1 and 2 of the product were only available on the Atlantic Ocean, while version 3 is now available on the global ocean.
From the sea level budget equation, thermosteric sea level change is calculated: ΔSLthermosteric = ΔSLtotal - ΔSLmass - ΔSLhalosteric with ΔSLtotal : Space altimetry data from Copernicus Climate Change Service ΔSLmass : Space gravimetry data from GRACE(-FO), update of Blazquez et al. 2018 ΔSLhalosteric : in situ based data, from Argo, combination of ISAS20 (0-2000m) and EN4.2.2.l09 (below 2000m)
The OHC change is computed at regional scales by dividing the thermosteric sea level change with the Integrated Expansion Efficiency of Heat (IEEH) coefficient: it expresses the change in ocean density due to heat uptake (Figure) and it is estimated from in situ temperature and salinity measurements. OHC change uncertainties are estimated by uncertainty propagation from input data until OHC change.
Data and resources
-
HTML Open
-
Manuel utilisateurPDF Open
-
HTML Open
-
Ablain et al., OSTST 2022: Monitoring the regional heat content change over the Atlantic Ocean with the space geodetic approach: the 4DATLANTIC-OHC project.HTML Open
-
Ressources liées : Contenu en Chaleur de l'Océan (OHC) et déséquilibre énergétique de la Terre (EEI)HTML Open
-
Blazquez, A., Meyssignac, B., Lemoine, J., Berthier, E., Ribes, A. and Cazenave, A. (2018) Exploring the uncertainty in GRACE estimates of the mass…HTML Open
-
Marti, F., Blazquez, A., Meyssignac, B., Ablain, M., Barnoud, A., Fraudeau, R., Jugier, R., Chenal, J., Larnicol, G., Pfeffer, J., Restano, M., and Benveniste,…HTML Open
-
Meyssignac, B., Fourest, S., Mayer, M. et al. North Atlantic Heat Transport Convergence Derived from a Regional Energy Budget Using Different Ocean Heat Content…HTML Open
-
Rousseau, V., Fraudeau, R., Hammond, M., Houndegnonto, O. J., Ablain, M., Blazquez, A., Calafat, F. M., Desbruyères, D., Foti, G., Llovel, W., Marti, F.,…HTML Open
-
Product Validation ReportPDF Open
-
HTML Open
Additional information
| Temporal extent | 2002-04-15 – 2023-12-09 |
|---|---|
| Date (publication) | 2025-04-10 |
| Status | completed |
| Update frequency | asNeeded |
| Metadata language | fr |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 |
| Source metadata | ISO 19115 XML |
| Last updated | 2026-11-04 |
| Created | 2026-11-04 |
| API | package_show |