Pathways of wind-power input into the ocean general circulation are analyzed using Ekman theory. Direct rates of wind work can be calculated through the wind stress acting on the surface geostrophic flow. However, because that energy is transported laterally in the Ekman layer, the injection into the geostrophic interior is actually controlled by Ekman pumping, with a pattern determined by the ...

The generation and destruction of stratification in the surface mixed layer of the ocean is understood to result from vertical turbulent transport of buoyancy and momentum driven by air–sea fluxes and stresses. In this paper, it is shown that the magnitude and penetration of vertical fluxes are strongly modified by horizontal gradients in buoyancy and momentum. A classic example is the strong r...

In regions of strong sea surface temperature (SST) gradients, the surface "geostrophic" currents have a vertical shear aligned with the surface density front defined by the temperature. This surface geostrophic ("thermal wind") shear can balance a portion of the surface wind stress, altering the classic Ekman response to wind forcing. Here we show that these frontal effects cannot be ignored in...

The surface stress is computed by the method of geostrophic departures using 23 days of double theodolite wind observations at Shilo, Manitoba. The main results are as follows. Relations between the stress and the geostrophic wind fit these data better than do similar expressions using the surface wind. The stress varies linearly, rather than quadratically, with wind speed. For a given surface ...

The first-order effects of nonlinearity on the thickness and frictionally driven flux in the Ekman layer are described for the case of an Ekman layer on a solid, flat plate driven by an overlying geostrophic flow as well as the Ekman layer on a free surface driven by a wind stress in the presence of a deep geostrophic current. In both examples, the fluid is homogeneous. Particular attention is ...

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...

In this thesis, the dynamic role of bottom topography in a #3-plane channel is systematically studied in both linear homogeneous and stratified layer models in the presence of either wind stress (Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 6) or buoyancy forcing (Chapter 5). In these studies, the structure of the geostrophic contour plays a fundamental role, and the role of bottom topography is looked at from two di...

The response of the Circumpolar Current to changing winds has been the subject of much debate. To date most theories of the current have tried to predict the transport using various forms of momentum balance. This paper argues that it is also important to consider thermodynamic as well as dynamic balances. Within largescale general circulation models, increasing eastward winds within the Southe...