The angle of windrows in the ocean
Open Access
- 1 August 1964
- journal article
- Published by Stockholm University Press in Tellus
- Vol. 16 (3), 363-370
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1964.tb00173.x
Abstract
Direct observations of the angle of windrows in the ocean with respect to the direction of the wind within a few feet of the surface show that there is a systematic deflection of the row orientation to the right of the wind direction. The average angle of the data is 13 degrees with a standard error of estimate of 2.0 degrees. Observations were obtained from small boats or by measurements from aerial photographs of the angle between the wind and windrows as indicated by smoke flares and material in the water. This systematic angle and earlier measurements of row spacing as a function of wind speed are interpreted as evidence that the Langmuir circulations in the ocean are produced by shear-flow instability in the Ekman boundary layer. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1964.tb00173.xKeywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Sea surface chemistry and Langmuir circulationDeep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts, 1963
- On the generation of wind streaks on the sea surface by action of surface filmTellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 1963
- An experimental study of the instability of the laminar Ekman boundary layerJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1963
- Surface Motion of Water Induced by WindScience, 1938