Indian Ocean examine finds an exception to Ekman’s idea of wind-driven ocean currents

A crew of planetary scientists and oceanographers from NOAA, the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services, and the University of Zagreb, has discovered an instance of an exception to Ekman’s idea of wind-driven ocean currents—wind and floor movement within the Bay of Bengal.

In their paper revealed within the journal Science Advances, the group analyzed a number of years of knowledge despatched by a buoy within the Indian Ocean, off the jap coast of India.

In 1905, a Swedish oceanographer named Vagn Walfrid Ekman discovered proof displaying that ocean currents that movement close to the floor, which have been identified to be impacted by wind, have been discovered to deflect to the fitting within the Northern Hemisphere and to the left within the Southern Hemisphere. Work since that point has backed up the idea, which has come to be generally known as Ekman’s idea of wind-driven ocean currents.

In this new examine, the analysis crew has discovered an exception to the idea—winds blowing within the Bay of Bengal, which is the Northern Hemisphere, deflect ocean currents to the left.

Evidence got here within the type of multi-year statistics from a buoy anchored a number of hundred miles off the coast of India. They confirmed currents deflecting to the left of floor winds.

The researchers counsel their findings might result in modifications in how local weather fashions simulate the affect of wind on ocean currents, as a result of if there may be one exception, there are prone to be extra. They additionally observe that their findings spotlight the shortage of analysis that has been performed surrounding the affect of wind on ocean currents, one thing that would turn into problematic as scientists try and predict modifications to the oceans because the planet continues to heat.

Future examine of the best way the wind impacts ocean currents within the Bay of Bengal might additionally present a greater understanding of ocean floor movement and circulation patterns. The researchers counsel their findings might assist to advertise the deployment of a satellite tv for pc system that NASA is contemplating that might be capable to monitor each wind and ocean floor currents, serving to researchers discover different exceptions.

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