THE GLOBAL GENERAL CIRCULATION OF THE OCEAN ESTIMATED BY THE ECCO-CONSORTIUM

Following on the heels of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) consortium has been directed at making the best possible estimates of ocean circulation and its role in climate. ECCO is combining state-of-the-art ocean general circulation models. with the nearly complete global ocean data sets for 1992 to present. Solutions are now available that adequately fit almost all types of ocean observations and that are, simultaneously, consistent with the model. These solutions are being applied to understanding ocean variability, biological cycles, coastal physics, geodesy, and many other areas.