SURFACE KINETIC ENERGY IN THE OCEAN IS DOMINATED BY MESOSCALE VARIABILITY OR EDDIES [FERRARI AND WUNSCH 2009]. EDDIES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE OCEAN TRANSPORT OF HEAT SALT AND OTHER PROPERTIES. DESPITE THEIR IMPORTANCE EDDY HEAT AND SALT TRANSPORTS REMAIN POORLY CHARACTERIZED MAINLY DUE TO DIFFICULTIES IN GATHERING OBSERVATIONS ON MESOSCALE TIME AND SPACE SCALES. MOST STUDIES REPRESENT ONLY LIMITED GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS WHERE ADEQUATE OBSERVATIONS EXIST OR RELY ON THE OUTPUTS OF OCEAN GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS. OCEAN MODELS HOWEVER MAY HAVE THEIR OWN BIASES AND UNCERTAINTIES ARISING FROM MISREPRESENTED PHYSICS LIMITED RESOLUTION ERRORS IN BOUNDARY CONDITIONS ERRORS IN THE FORCING FIELDS ETC [JANE AND MAROTZKE 2002]. FOR CONSISTENT DESCRIPTION DIRECT ESTIMATES OF THE EDDY FLUXES FROM OBSERVATIONS ARE MUCH NEEDED. IN THIS REGARD THE ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLES PLAYED BY COHERENT MESOSCALE EDDIES WHICH ARE ABUNDANT WORLDWIDE IN THE OCEAN AND WHICH ACCOUNT FOR MOST OF KINETIC ENERGY OF THE OCEAN CIRCULATION IS OF PRIMARY INTEREST. THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY IN THE OCEAN TRANSPORT OF HEAT AND SALT CARRIED BY MESOSCALE EDDIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE GENERAL CIRCULATION. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ARE TO: (1) PROVIDE A SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE EDDY TRANSPORT OF HEAT AND SALT IN THE WORLD OCEANS ESTIMATED FROM SATELLITE AND INSITU OBSERVATIONS; (2) DIAGNOSE THE MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE TRANSPORTS; AND (3) CHARACTERIZE AND QUANTIFY TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN THE EDDY TRANSPORTS OF HEAT AND SALT ON TIME SCALES FROM YEARS TO DECADES. WE WILL ALSO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY TO MONITOR DEPTHDISTRIBUTED EDDY HEAT AND SALT TRANSPORTS USING MULTI-SENSOR SATELLITE AND IN-SITU DATA. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL SYNTHESIZE GLOBAL DATASETS OF SATELLITE SEA LEVEL ANOMALY SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE SEA SURFACE SALINITY ETC AND IN-SITU ARGO AND OTHER HYDROGRAPHIC PROFILE DATA WITHIN A FRAMEWORK OF THE EDDY TRACKING TECHNIQUE TO DESCRIBE MESOSCALE EDDIES AT THE SEA SURFACE EXPLORE THEIR SUBSURFACE STRUCTURE ASSESS THEIR TRANSPORT PROPERTIES AND LINK SURFACE TO SUBSURFACE OBSERVATIONS TO FORM A COHERENT COMPACT VIEW ON THE OCEAN MESOSCALES AND THEIR ROLE IN THE OCEAN TRANSPORT OF HEAT AND SALT. ANALYSIS OF THE OBSERVATIONAL DATA WILL BE AIDED BY A HIGH-RESOLUTION OGCM TO (1) TEST TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED IN THE PROJECT; AND (2) HELP INTERPRET SPATIAL PATTERNS AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY IN THE OBSERVED EDDY PROPERTIES AND ASSOCIATED FLUXES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT ADDRESSES THE NASA PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY RESEARCH THEME 1: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE OCEAN CIRCULATION USING SATELLITE AND IN-SITU DATA .