Generation of mean ocean circulation by fluctuating winds
Open Access
- 1 February 1966
- journal article
- Published by Stockholm University Press in Tellus
- Vol. 18 (1) , 67-76
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1966.tb01445.x
Abstract
The study of barotropic wind-driven, ocean circulation by means of a Fourier series expansion is extended in this paper to include systems with up to six components in each of the horizontal directions. The results agree with the qualitative results deduced from the 2 times 2 study reported earlier. The principal new result which is derived here is that a fluctuating wind (whose time-average vanishes) superimposed on a mean wind can significantly increase the mass transport of the mean circulation. The maximum increase derived here is 30% of the mean circulation in the absence of a fluctuating wind. It is also shown that mean circulations arise from purely fluctuating winds. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1966.tb01445.xKeywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- On parametric values and types of representation in wind-driven ocean circulation studiesTellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 1965
- An Analysis of Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation with a Limited Number of Fourier ComponentsJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1963
- On the non-linear energy transfer in a gravity-wave spectrum Part 1. General theoryJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1962
- Wind-Driven Currents in a Baroclinic Ocean; with Application to the Equatorial Currents of the Eastern PacificProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1947