The influence of the atmospheric circulation on monthly anomalies of ocean surface latent and sensible heat fluxes is explored. The fluxes are estimated using bulk formulas applied to a set of about four decades of marine observations over 1946–1986. Monthly averaging over 5° “square” reduces errors contained in individual observations. The focus is on behavior of the flux anomalies over the relatively well-sampled North Atlantic and North Pacific ocean during winter, when the latent and sensible components are large and the incoming shortwave radiative flux is low. In the North Atlantic and North Pacific (north of about 15°N), flux anomalies are partially caused by local variations in the monthly mean wind direction. In these extratropical regions, largest positive anomalies occur during northerly to northwesterly winds in response to advection of humidity and temperature from north to south and also to favored directions experiencing strong wind speeds. In the tropics, there is little relations... Abstract The influence of the atmospheric circulation on monthly anomalies of ocean surface latent and sensible heat fluxes is explored. The fluxes are estimated using bulk formulas applied to a set of about four decades of marine observations over 1946–1986. Monthly averaging over 5° “square” reduces errors contained in individual observations. The focus is on behavior of the flux anomalies over the relatively well-sampled North Atlantic and North Pacific ocean during winter, when the latent and sensible components are large and the incoming shortwave radiative flux is low. In the North Atlantic and North Pacific (north of about 15°N), flux anomalies are partially caused by local variations in the monthly mean wind direction. In these extratropical regions, largest positive anomalies occur during northerly to northwesterly winds in response to advection of humidity and temperature from north to south and also to favored directions experiencing strong wind speeds. In the tropics, there is little relations...