The annual mean heat budget of the TOGA‐COARE domain is examined in a reduced‐gravity, primitive equation model of the upper equatorial ocean that is described by Gent and Cane (1989). It is forced by the monthly winds from Rasmusson and Carpenter (1982), and the heat flux formulation is from Seager et al. (1988). It is concluded that the annual mean net heating of the ocean surface in the area 140°E‐180°E, 10°S‐10°N is between 0 and 20 W m−2. This is considerably less than the estimates given in climatic atlases which vary from about 30 W m−2 (Esbensen and Kushnir, 1981; Hsiung, 1985), about 50 W m−2 (Weare et al., 1981), to about 70 W m−2 (Reed, 1985). These estimates have no physical constraints on the analysis, whereas the model result is constrained by the ocean's ability to remove heat from the TOGA‐COARE domain.