This paper gives an overview on decompositions of vector fields on the sphere that are of importance in geoscientific modeling. Various versions of the Mie and Helmholtz decomposition are presented. A special emphasis is set to integral representations for the different contributions, which is of interest, e.g., in numerical applications. Furthermore, the decompositions are treated in a global framework on the entire sphere and in a local framework on regular subsurfaces. In the end, an application to the modeling of ionospheric currents is indicated.