Ekman Transport in Balanced Currents with Curvature

On the global estimates of geostrophic and Ekman surface currents

Surface currents in oceanic environments are of crucial importance because they transport momentum, heat, salt, and tracers over large distances that regulate both the local and large-scale climate conditions, and because they contribute to the Lagrangian displacement of floating material, ranging from living resources to marine pollution. In recent decades, the understanding of surface current...

Buoyancy Arrest and Bottom Ekman Transport. Part I: Steady Flow

It is well known that along-isobath flow above a sloping bottom gives rise to cross-isobath Ekman transport and therefore sets up horizontal density gradients if the ocean is stratified. These transports in turn eventually bring the along-isobath bottom velocity, hence bottom stress, to rest (‘‘buoyancy arrest’’) simply by means of the thermal wind shear. This problem is revisited here. A modif...

Investigation of Geostrophic and Ekman Surface Current Using Satellite Altimetry Observations and Surface Wind in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea

The rise of satellite altimetry is a revolution in the ocean sciences. Due to its global coverage and its high resolution, altimetry classically outperforms in situ water level measurement. Ekman and geostrophic currents are large parts of the ocean’s current, playing a vital role in global climate variations. According to the classic oceanography, Ekman and geostrophic currents can be calculat...

Hypersurfaces with Constant Mean Curvature in a Lorentzian Space Form

Ekman Transport Dominates Local Air–Sea Fluxes in Driving Variability of Subantarctic Mode Water

Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) is formed by deep convection in winter on the equatorward side of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Observations south of Australia show that the SAMW temperature (T) and salinity (S) vary significantly from year to year. The magnitude and density-compensating nature of the temperature and salinity changes cannot be explained by variations in air–sea exchange of ...