This study examines the relationship between tropical heating and global circulation in the troposphere through singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis and numerical simulations based on a global barotropic spectral model. SVD analysis was applied to the 200-mbar stream function field and the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) to extract the most recurrent coupled mode. The stream function vector of the first mode indicates an out-of-phase relationship between the stream function in the northern and southern hemispheres. Tight gradients in the pattern along the equator suggest a large fluctuation of zonal-mean zonal wind associated with this seesaw. Its eddy component appears to modulate the stationary eddies. The major structure of the corresponding OLR vector is a dipole near the equator with one center at 120¿E and another one at 160¿W. The first mode exhibits a strong interannual variability and is strongly correlated with the occurrence of El Ni¿o and La Ni¿a. To understand the relationship between the stream function and OLR, a series of numerical experiments using a barotropic model was carried out, specifying Rossby wave source associated with differing idealized divergence patterns in the tropics. The steady state responses in all experiments exhibit a zonally symmetric structure resembling the stream function vector of the first mode. The pattern was mainly forced by the zonal-mean component by Rossby wave source that is contributed mostly by zonal-mean divergent winds under the constraint of zero global-beam divergence. The same zonal-mean forcing is also responsible for the forced eddy stream function perturbations that exhibit similar structures in all experiments. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994