During my diploma and Ph.D. studies I worked on problems which are related to the global water mass circulation, and I realized that there exist important questions with respect to transport patterns and rates of the deep water masses, especially in the South Atlantic. I have also gained experience in relating observations and models, and particularly in inverse modelling. In my postdoctoral work at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) I want to try to find answers to the following questions:

• Which specific water masses are transported in the circulation regimes apparent in the results of inverse models?
• Where are the regions with enhanced or weaker water mass modification (diapycnal and lateral mixing)?
• Where and how does the deep part of the global thermo haline circulation reach the upper layers, such closing the conveyor belt?

To answer open questions a further improvement of the inverse model is necessary, and one has to better differentiate between different water masses. One possibility is the use of the information from tracer fluxes. Another approach is the implementation of water mass conservation, using the percentages calculated with a multiparameter water mass analysis. Diapycnal fluxes have to be incorporated more specificaly in the inverse model. I want to achieve the implementation by using for the inverse model the knowledge on diapycnal fluxes as determined through experiments such as the tracer release experiment. A further improvement also can be obtained by a comparison of the NADW circulation of the inverse model with direct measurements as determined from deep floats. In a further step the deep float measurements can then be incorporated in the inverse model. One possible route could be the calculation of mean transports from the float data using box averages. These mean transports can than be included in the inverse model in a similar way as current meter observations. The comparison of the mean circulation obtained from the inverse model with direct measurements will also give helpful information on the temporal variability of the deep ocean and representativeness of the float observations with respect to mean fields. The results gained from the proposed work on the South Atlantic can later on be used to improve the knowledge of the deep circulation in other parts of the ocean.

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