Ekman layer

In a rotating fluid, a layer of relatively uniform fluid between a boundary (such as the surface) and the bulk of the fluid, especially the upper layer of the ocean whose currents are largely driven by the force of wind on the surface.

[After Vagn Walfrid Ekman (1874-1954), Swedish oceanographer.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Ekman layer

(Swedish ˈɛkman)

(Physical Geography) the thin top layer of the sea that flows at 90° to the wind direction, discovered by Vagn Walfrid Ekman

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References in periodicals archive

At the sea surface, a perfect Ekman layer would produce [+ or -]45[degrees] with the sign changing across the equator.

A DYNAMICALLY CONSISTENT, MULTIVARIABLE OCEAN CLIMATOLOGY: A 20-yr ocean climatology is available that includes all dynamical variables and is consistent with the diversity of data available from the global observation system

(2001), during upwelling events the upper 20 m of the water column represent the Ekman layer, the 80-20 m stratum shows a reversal flow, and the 200-80 m stratum is a deep and more stable layer.

In September 1998, velocity profiles showed a southward flow throughout the water column, and a typical structure across shore of an upwelling event composed by three layers, a westward surface layer (Ekman layer, 0-25 m depth), a subsurface eastward layer (25-50 m) and a deep layer (50-200 m) flowing westward (Fig.

Variacion diaria en la distribucion vertical de larvas de peces forzada por filamentos de surgencia frente a Punta Angamos (norte de Chile)

The Ekman layer velocity data have shown three types of systematic deviations from the situation described by the classical Ekman theory (Ekman 1905).

A modified Ekman layer model/Modifitseeritud Ekmani kihi mudel

Attempts to observe the structure of the Ekman layer in the surface layers of the sea have been successful.

Unsteady flow in a rotating channel with a porous lining

The mean wind speed during the measurement was 2.8 m [s.sup.-1] and the corresponding estimated Ekman layer depth was 2.5 m.

Comparison of satellite sea surface temperature with in situ surface layer temperature/Satelliidi merepinna temperatuuri vordlus alusmootmistega