Three-dimensional solutions are obtained for the circulation of the North Atlantic using a robust diagnostic model. In contrast to previous diagnostic models the robust diagnostic model incorporates the conservation of the large-scale fields of heat and salinity as well as momentum. An approximate fit to observed fields of temperature and salinity is obtained by a closure condition. The method is robust in the sense that it does not have the extreme sensitivity to the density input fields of the classical diagnostic method. Equilibrium solutions are obtained by numerical integration of the time-dependent equations. Error estimates for the velocity field can be obtained indirectly from the numerical solutions. Temperature observations used as input have an effective resolution of 3¿¿3¿ of latitude and longitude and a sampling error of ¿0.15¿C. The equivalent vertically integrated velocity error is estimated to be ¿0.5--1.0 cm/s depending on bottom topography. The suitability of the model for geochemical work is judged by comparison with heat and salinity balance estimates. Best results are obtained for the case in which the model has a minimum observational constraint below the surface.