Abstract. By focusing on time sequences of basin-average and global-average upper ocean temperature (i.e., from 40øS to 60øN) we find temperatures responding to changing solar irradiance in three separate frequency bands with periods of >100 years, 18-25 years, and 9-13 years. Moreover, we find them in two different data sets, that is, surface marine weather observations from 1990 to 1991 and bathythermograph (BT) upper ocean temperature profiles from 1955 to 1994. Band-passing basin-average temperature records find each frequency component in phase across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, yielding global-average records with maximum amplitudes of 0.04 ø _+ 0.01øK and 0.07 ø _+ 0.01øK on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively. These achieve maximum correlation applied wavelet transform analysis to the global-average northern hemisphere portion of this data set, finding significant solar-related signals on both decadal and interdecadal scales. We inquire into the global connection between decadal and interdecadal climate variability and changing solar irradiance by focusing upon the oceanic portion of the global surface temperature record from 1990 to 1991. We complement it with a new global upper ocean temperature record compiled mostly from bathythermograph (BT) measurements collected from 1955 to 1994. The latter allows us to examine the heat budget of the oceanic response to changing solar irradiance in a simple way not possible over land, answering the question, Where is the anomalous heat from changing solar irradiance stored? By taking this approach we are able to achieve complementary specifications of solar-related decadal and interdecadal signals in upper ocean temperature in these two independent data sets (and in three independent ocean basins). Three different statistical techniques (i.e., power spectra, multichannel singular spectrum analysis (MSSA), and empirical orthogonal function (EOF)) are used to show significant associations between global-average upper ocean temperature and solar irradiance on both decadal and interdecadal timescales. These yield estimates for phase lags of the global-average sea surface temper- 3255