By focusing on time sequences of basin-average and global-average upper ocean temperature (i.e., from 40 ¿S to 60 ¿N) we find temperatures responding to changing solar irradiance in three separate frequency bands with periods of >100 years, 18--25 years, and 9--13 years. Moreover, we find them in two different data sets, that is, surface marine weather observations from 1990 to 1991 and bathythermograph (BT) upper ocean temperature profiles from 1955 to 1994. Band-passing basin-average temperature records find each frequency component in phase across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, yielding global-average records with maximum amplitudes of 0.04¿¿0.01 ¿K and 0.07¿¿0.01 ¿K on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively. These achieve maximum correlation with solar irradiance records (i.e., with maximum amplitude 0.5 W m-2 at the top of the atmosphere) at phase lags ranging from 30¿ to 50¿. From the BT data set, solar signals in global-average temperature penetrate to 80--160 m, confined to the upper layer above the main pycnocline. Operating a global-average heat budget for the upper ocean yields sea surface temperature responses of 0.01¿--0.03 ¿K and 0.02¿--0.05 ¿K on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively, from the 0.1 W m-2 penetration of solar irradiance to the sea surface. Since this is of the same order as that observed (i.e., 0.04¿--0.07 ¿K), we can infer that anomalous heat from changing solar irradiance is stored in the upper layer of the ocean.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union