A simplified cycling and transport model for inorganic nutrients and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and phosphorus (DOP) is applied to the Atlantic, on the basis of recent measurements along a meridional transect. The DON and DOP are separated into semilabile pools with a lifetime of 6 months and a refractory pool which is conserved in the interior, but photochemically breaks down in the euphotic zone with a lifetime of 6--12 years. The semilabile pool typically only makes up 10% of the surface DON, but up to 95% of DOP. DON and DOP are preferentially produced over upwelling zones in the euphotic zone. Elevated surface concentrations of DON and DOP generally occur over the tropics where the mixed layer is thin, but become diluted at higher latitudes where the mixed layer is thick. There is a northward transport of DON and DOP from the tropics into the northern subtropical gyre, as part of the Ekman wind-driven circulation and overturning circulation. At the same time, there is a depth-integrated southward transport of nitrate and phosphate leading to a loss of nitrate and phosphate over the subtropics of the North Atlantic, which is partly compensated by the supply of DON and DOP. Inputs of DON enhance the particle export over the subtropical gyres by typically 0.05 mol N m-2 yr-1, compared with a background model particle export of typically 0.2 mol N m-2 yr-1. Inputs of DOP appear to be more significant (owing to their smaller refractory content) in increasing particle export by typically 12 mmol P m-2 yr-1 over the subtropical gyre, which is sufficiently large to supply half of the phosphorus requirements for particle export.