Frictional effects in wind-driven ocean currents

Surface ocean currents have a significant influence on the climate and their dynamics depend to a large extent on the behaviour of the vertical eddy viscosity. We present an analytic study of wind-driven surface currents for general depth-dependent vertical eddy viscosities. A novel formulation for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGeophysical and astrophysical fluid dynamics Vol. 115; no. 1; pp. 1 - 14
Main Author Constantin, Adrian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Taylor & Francis 02.01.2021
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Decay
deflection angle
Eddy currents
Eddy viscosity
Frictional effects
Mathematical analysis
Northern Hemisphere
Ocean currents
Oceans
Perturbation
Polar coordinates
spiralling horizontal flow
Surface currents
Wind
Wind direction
Wind effects
Wind-driven current
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Summary:Surface ocean currents have a significant influence on the climate and their dynamics depend to a large extent on the behaviour of the vertical eddy viscosity. We present an analytic study of wind-driven surface currents for general depth-dependent vertical eddy viscosities. A novel formulation for Ekman-type flows, that relies of a transformation to polar coordinates, enables us to show that in the Northern Hemisphere the horizontal current profile decays in magnitude and turns clockwise with increasing depth, irrespective of the vertical variations in diffusivity. Using a perturbation approach, we also derive a formula for the deflection angle of the current at the surface from the wind direction and discuss its implications.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 14
ISSN:0309-1929
1029-0419
DOI:10.1080/03091929.2020.1748614