A 43-year ocean model simulation for the period 1951--1993 is analyzed, with a focus on the meridional heat transport (MHT) as a proxy for the strength of meridional overturning cell (MOC) at 25 ¿N. The surface heat flux forcing associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern is related to the variability in MHT both on interannual and longer timescales. The manifestation of the interannual and decadal oceanic response to NAO is nonlocal, as evidenced by the concentrated heat content and sea level variability at the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current regions and shown by the comparison of the model sea level variability to the altimeter data between low MHT years in mid-1980s and high MHT years in early 1990s. The same area is singled out by empirical orthogonal function analysis in the leading mode of the sea level. MHT and time series of the leading sea level mode are highly correlated, which reflects the importance of the MOC in determining the variability of the heat content of the whole basin. Also, the model suggests that the MHT/MOC has entered a very strong phase since the mid-1980s and this trend has continued up to the end of 1993; this behavior follows the general trend in the NAO index. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union