SEQUAL/FOCAL: First year results on the circulation in the equatorial Atlantic

Since the tropics are a principal region of heat exchange between the oceans and the atmosphere, the distribution of heat in the tropical oceans is crucial to global climate.Relative to mid-latitudes, the dynamics of the equatorial zone of the tropics allow for rapid baroclinic responses to external forcing.Thus the equatorial ocean's 6irculation responds seasonally to the surface wind stress result%ng in a largely advective distribution of heat.