Notes on the Horizontal Circulation of Ocean Currents

Abstract

The effect of a variable depth of the wind driven oceanic circulation on the steady state current systems is discussed with the aid of a simple model. There is much evidence that in the Atlantic Ocean the depth of the layer of no motion increases poleward proportionally to the sine of the geographical latitude in both hemispheres. It seems not unlikely that the oceans react to the planetary vorticity effect in such a way that they rather tend to adjust the level of no motion than to displace the whole gyre of the wind driven circulation to the west.