Ekman Transport

Ekman transport, part of Ekman motion theory first investigated in 1902 by Vagn Walfrid Ekman (for whom it is named), is the term given for the 90 degree net transport of the surface layer (depth to which wind penetrates) due to wind forcings. This phenomenon was first noted by Fridtjof Nansen, who recorded that ice transport appeared to occur at an angle to the wind direction during his arctic expedition during the 1890s. The direction of transport is dependent on the hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere this transport is at a 90 degree angle to the right of the direction of the wind, and in the southern hemisphere it occurs at a 90 degree angle to the left of the direction of the wind.