Construct · 1 fields · 2 citations

gyre: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

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gyre1 CONSTRUCTOcean gyreSVERDRUP & STOMMEL · 1947

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Physical oceanography

A basin-scale ring of wind-driven currents

In physical oceanography, a gyre is a basin-scale system of rotating surface currents, driven by the prevailing winds and shaped by the Earth's rotation, that circulates clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern. Sverdrup's 1947 Wind-driven currents in a baroclinic ocean related the interior circulation to the wind stress, and Stommel's 1948 The westward intensification of wind-driven ocean currents explained why each gyre has a swift, narrow western boundary current such as the Gulf Stream. The referent is a persistent ocean-wide circulation measured by its transport and current speeds, and it is distinct from a poet's spiral cones, sharing only the meaning of a great turning.[1][2]

Unit
The volume transport and circulation of a basin-scale current system, in sverdrups
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Quantified by volume transport (sverdrups), surface-current speeds, and sea-surface-height gradients across the basin

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Nearby constructs

current3 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsboundary4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, four constructscarry1 fields · 1 citationsanchor · a standalone construct

References

  1. Sverdrup, H. U. (1947). Wind-driven currents in a baroclinic ocean; with application to the equatorial currents of the eastern Pacific. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 33(11), 318–326. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.33.11.318
  2. Stommel, H. (1948). The westward intensification of wind-driven ocean currents. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 29(2), 202–206. https://doi.org/10.1029/TR029i002p00202

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