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The ocean’s circulation is analyzed in Absolute Salinity S _A and Conservative Temperature Θ coordinates. It is separated into 1) an advective component related to geographical displacements in the direction normal to S _A and Θ isosurfaces and 2) into a local component, related to local changes in S _A –Θ values, without a geographical displacement. In this decomposition, the sum of the advective and local components of the circulation is equivalent to the material derivative of S _A and Θ. The sum is directly related to sources and sinks of salt and heat. The advective component is represented by the advective thermohaline streamfunction . After removing a trend, the local component can be represented by the local thermohaline streamfunction . Here …