From historical data on the distribution of temperature and salinity on vertical sections across the oceans over complete latitude circles it is possible to test the compatibility of certain meteorologically determined meridional fluxes in the ocean of sensible heat and fresh water as functions of latitude. It is also possible to check the proportion of this flux that each ocean basin carries separately. The information from both these sources leads to estimates of the magnitudes and distribution of the meridional oceanic mass flux over the salinity-temperature plane and yields some indication of the probable physical processes operating (that is isopycnal mixing versus large-scale advective currents).