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On the Patterns of Wind-Power Input to the Ocean Circulation

Author(s)
Roquet, Fabien; Madec, Gurvan; Wunsch, Carl Isaac
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Abstract
Pathways of wind-power input into the ocean general circulation are analyzed using Ekman theory. Direct rates of wind work can be calculated through the wind stress acting on the surface geostrophic flow. However, because that energy is transported laterally in the Ekman layer, the injection into the geostrophic interior is actually controlled by Ekman pumping, with a pattern determined by the wind curl rather than the wind itself. Regions of power injection into the geostrophic interior are thus generally shifted poleward compared to regions of direct wind-power input, most notably in the Southern Ocean, where on average energy enters the interior 10° south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current core. An interpretation of the wind-power input to the interior is proposed, expressed as a downward flux of pressure work. This energy flux is a measure of the work done by the Ekman pumping against the surface elevation pressure, helping to maintain the observed anomaly of sea surface height relative to the global-mean sea level.
Date issued
2011-12
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71729
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Journal
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Roquet, Fabien, Carl Wunsch, and Gurvan Madec. “On the Patterns of Wind-Power Input to the Ocean Circulation.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 41.12 (2011): 2328–2342. © 2011 American Meteorological Society
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0022-3670
1520-0485

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