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In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result of the wind blowing over the water's surface. The contact distance in the direction of the wind is known as the fetch. Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of kilometers before reaching land.
Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted surface water.
The density of water in the ocean, which is defined as mass per unit of volume, has a complicated dependence on temperature (), salinity and pressure (), which in turn is a function of the density and depth of the overlying water, and is denoted as (,,).
Breaking swell waves at Hermosa Beach, California. A swell, also sometimes referred to as ground swell, in the context of an ocean, sea or lake, is a series of mechanical waves that propagate along the interface between water and air under the predominating influence of gravity, and thus are often referred to as surface gravity waves.
Ekman transport is the net motion of fluid as the result of a balance between Coriolis and turbulent drag forces. In the picture above, the wind blowing North in the northern hemisphere creates a surface stress and a resulting Ekman spiral is found below it in the water column.
The Ekman layer is the layer in a fluid where the flow is the result of a balance between pressure gradient, Coriolis and turbulent drag forces. In the picture above, the wind blowing North creates a surface stress and a resulting Ekman spiral is found below it in the column of water.
The clumps of floating algae are often concentrated by the strong winds and wave action associated with the Gulf Stream. In physical oceanography, Langmuir circulation consists of a series of shallow, slow, counter-rotating vortices at the ocean's surface aligned with the wind. These circulations are developed when wind blows steadily over the ...
For vector fields (such as wind velocity), the zonal component (or x-coordinate) is denoted as u, while the meridional component (or y-coordinate) is denoted as v. In plasma physics, "zonal flow" means poloidal, which is the opposite from the meaning in planetary atmospheres and weather/climate studies.