Ekman transport

Ekman transport is the net motion of fluid in a surface layer caused by wind stress, named after the Swedish oceanographer Vagn Walfrid Ekman. In the ocean, the surface water moves at a 90-degree angle to the wind direction due to the Coriolis effect, with the transport direction being 90 degrees to the right of the wind in the Northern Hemisphere and 90 degrees to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This wind-driven transport is the primary mechanism by which the atmosphere forces the ocean's large-scale gyre circulation, and it is the coupling mechanism at the heart of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and other climate oscillations.