The response of an eddy-permitting ocean model to changes introduced by data assimilation is studied when the available in situ data are sparse in both space and time (typical for the majority of the ocean). Temperature and salinity (T&S) profiles from the WOCE upper ocean thermal data set were assimilated into a primitive equation ocean model over the North Atlantic, using a simple nudging scheme with a time window of about 2 days and a horizontal spatial radius of about 1¿. When data are sparse the model returns to its unassimilated behavior, locally forgetting or rejecting the assimilation, on timescales determined by the local advection and diffusion. Increasing the spatial weighting radius effectively reduces both processes and hence lengthens the model restoring time (and with it, the impact of assimilation). Increasing the nudging factor enhances the assimilation effect but has little effect on the model restoring time.