Ocean-atmosphere exchanges of heat and water are key elements of the global climate system. Processes controlling these exchanges and their impacts on the ocean will be briefly reviewed with an emphasis on developments in the past decade. The main characteristics of the long term mean exchange fields will also be presented with reference to atmospheric reanalysis, remote sensing and ship observation based datasets. Flux measurement and evaluation techniques will be discussed with reference to observational datasets, particularly the critically important growing network of surface flux buoys. A short review of the many flux datasets that are now available will be given that focuses on the still unsolved ocean heat budget closure problem. Variability in the exchanges will also be considered with a focus on changes associated with large scale modes of atmospheric variability and the effects of anthropogenic climate change. The ocean impacts of changes in the surface fluxes will also be explored in the context of water mass transformation and the ocean overturning circulation. To conclude, the prospects for future improvements to flux datasets through advances in the synthesis of data from different sources and enhanced observational constraints will be discussed. |