A RECENT SYNERGISTIC ANALYSIS OF SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS OF SURFACE WINDS SEA SURFACE HEIGHT (SSH) AND SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) FROM RADAR SCATTEROMETRY RADAR ALTIMETERS AND PASSIVE MICROWAVE RADIOMETERS HAS DOCUMENTED THE STRUCTURES OF WIND-DRIVEN VERTICAL VELOCITY IN THE INTERIORS OF MESOSCALE OCEAN EDDIES. THE TOTAL WIND-DRIVEN VERTICAL VELOCITY INCLUDES THE AIR-SEA INTERACTION EFFECTS OF SST AND SURFACE OCEAN CURRENTS ON THE CURL OF THE SURFACE STRESS IN THE CLASSICAL EKMAN THEORY. IT ALSO INCLUDES THE EFFECTS OF THE RELATIVE VORTICITY OF SURFACE CURRENTS ON CONVERGENCES AND DIVERGENCES OF WIND-DRIVEN TRANSPORT IDENTIFIED IN A 1965 EXTENSION OF EKMAN THEORY BY MELVIN STERN. IN MESOSCALE EDDIES THE STERN CONTRIBUTION IS STRONGER THAN THE TWO AIR-SEA INTERACTION EFFECTS IN THE TOTAL WIND-DRIVEN VERTICAL VELOCITY WHICH WE REFER TO AS STERN-EKMAN PUMPING. THE STERN CONTRIBUTION HAS A VERY DISTINCTIVE DIPOLE SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN COMPOSITE AVERAGES COMPUTED IN ROTATED COORDINATES DEFINED BY THE WIND DIRECTION. .TO DATE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF STERN-EKMAN PUMPING TO THE TOTAL VERTICAL VELOCITY WITHIN MESOSCALE EDDIES HAVE NOT BEEN VERIFIED. SHIPAND GLIDER-BASED OBSERVATIONS ARE INADEQUATE FOR SUCH PURPOSES BECAUSE THE WIND-DRIVEN CONTRIBUTIONS TO TOTAL VERTICAL VELOCITY ARE GENERALLY OBSCURED BY OTHER AGEOSTROPHIC PROCESSES AND ONLY BECOME APPARENT IN LONG TIME AVERAGES. WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE THE RELEVANCE OF STERN-EKMAN PUMPING FROM THE OUTPUT OF TWO HIGH-RESOLUTION OCEAN CIRCULATIONS MODELS ONE THAT SIMULATES THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT SYSTEM AND ONE THAT SIMULATES THE ENTIRE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN CIRCULATION. OUR APPROACH WILL BE TO ANALYZE THE MODEL SIMULATIONS TO COMPUTE THE THREE COMPONENTS OF STERN-EKMAN PUMPING AND COMPARE THE RESULTS WITH THE COMPOSITES COMPUTED FROM SATELLITE DATA AND WITH THE TOTAL VERTICAL VELOCITY COMPUTED FROM THE DIVERGENCE OF HORIZONTAL CURRENTS IN THE MODELS. WE WILL DETERMINE THE GEOGRAPHIC AND SCALE DEPENDENCIES OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE MODEL-BASED TOTAL STERN-EKMAN VERTICAL VELOCITY FIELDS AND THE TOTAL VERTICAL VELOCITY FIELDS. WE WILL ALSO CONSTRUCT COMPOSITE AVERAGES OF THE VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF VERTICAL VELOCITY IN THE INTERIORS OF MESOSCALE EDDIES IDENTIFIED AND TRACKED IN THE NORTH PACIFIC MODEL. .