Climatological annual cycle of ocean heat content

Ocean heat content is a major component of earth's energy budget. This paper presents estimates of the climatological annual cycle of upper (0–250 m layer) ocean heat content based on World Ocean Atlas 2001. The land‐ocean ratio is responsible for the geographical distribution of the annual cycle of ocean heat content. Globally, the amplitude of annual harmonic of upper ocean heat content is 3.7 × 10 22 J for the World Ocean, 10.2 × 10 22 J for the Southern Hemisphere, and 6.5 × 10 22 J for the Northern Hemisphere.