Interchange of water between the major oceans

A three-box model is used to evaluate the rate of exchange of water between the three major water types in the ocean: warm surface water, North Atlantic deep water, and Pacific and Indian deep water. The eight unknown fluxes (six for water and two for particles) are determined from material balance considerations for H₂O, ¹⁴C, and ΣCO₂ and from the requirement that the ¹⁸O-salinity relationships observed in the ocean not to be violated. The validity of the model is checked by comparing the predicted and observed rates of CaCO₃ accumulation in deep-sea sediments.