Using 28 years of expendable bathythermograph data (1967--1994), we describe the mean and annual cycle of the upper ocean temperature fields in the Atlantic from 30 ¿S to 50 ¿N in the context of the basin-scale wind-driven gyres (Sverdrup stream function field), which provide a framework for describing the oceanographic measurements. We examine the circulation field implied by the temperature distributions, which are used as a proxy for the field of mass. Similarities between the temperature and stream function fields increase with depth. In the lower to subthermocline depths of the tropical and equatorial gyres the zonal currents form a closed circulation. A southeastward boundary current is suggested near and below 150 m that provides closure for the tropical gyre, and the equatorial gyre axis is southward of that suggested by the stream function field. Higher in the water column, the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) may be a surface manifestation of the North Equatorial Undercurrent (NEUC), where the latter can be interpreted as the southern limb of the tropical gyre. Because there are large vertical shears in the tropics, the equatorial gyre is not clearly indicated in the vertically integrated temperature field but appears below about 200 m. Here, the South Equatorial Undercurrent (SEUC) can be interpreted as the eastward flowing northern limb of the equatorial gyre and is opposite in direction to the westward flowing South Equatorial Current above. Both the NEUC and SEUC are analogous to currents in the Pacific that are governed by non-Sverdrup dynamics. Despite the shortcomings of the data, the mean annual cycle appears to be relatively stable, and we have discounted the possibility that in regions where it represents a significant percentage of the total variance, it is changing slowly over the 28 years of record. The wind-forcing fields, which undergo large meridional movements (5¿--6¿ of latitude) during their annual cycle, with some exceptions, have essentially no counterpart in gyre movements between their seasonal extremes. Most of the variability associated with the annual cycle is confined to the upper 300 m. Greatest variability, where ranges exceed 6 ¿C, occurs in the northwestern Atlantic in late winter and early spring. During this time of year south of the Gulf Stream and below about 100 m, water temperatures exhibit a systematic phase lag with depth. The next largest area of variability, where ranges can also exceed 6 ¿C, resides in the tropical western basin between the equator and 10 ¿N just below 100 m. In the eastern basin, ranges decrease and shoal. Additionally, the phase fields are consistent with the intensification and relaxation of the tropical ridge-trough system where the NECC disappears in March in the west, but the NECC/NEUC complex is strongest in September. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union