Estimates of global ocean volume transports during 1960 through 2001

An estimate of global time‐varying ocean volume transports is provided for the period 1960–2001 as it results from the German ECCO (GECCO) synthesis. Results confirm previously discussed mean‐state ocean circulation systems, encompassing an upper meridional cell in the Atlantic with sinking in the North Atlantic connected to a lower meridional cell with sinking around Antarctica in the Pacific and Atlantic. Decadal to interdecadal variability as well as long‐term trends of global ocean transport, analyzed over the course of the 42 years, appear as a reorganization of time‐mean circulation structures, including the layer transports in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the circulation involving the Indo‐Pacific exchange.