WIND
DRIVEN
CURRENTS
AND WIND
WAVES
THANAYA PRADEEP
FEN-2020-09-010
Wind driven currents
What are ocean current?
• An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea
water generated by a number of forces acting upon the
water , including wind, the coriolis effect , breaking waves,
temperature and salinity differences.
Types of ocean current
Surface current Deep ocean current
Move along the edges of the continent. Density driven.
Driven by wind and coriolis effect. Water density is affected by the temperature ,
salinity and depth of the water.
Affect weather and climate
Wind driven currents
• wind driven circulation describes the process in which winds moving
along the surface of the ocean push the water in their direction and
create currents near the surface.
• this means that water is pushed by wind, but as it is pushed it is still
deflected by earth’s rotation and will rotate.
Examples wind driven currents
• Gulf stream - warm Atlantic ocean current.
• Agulhas current – western boundary current of southwest Indian ocean
that flows down the eastern coast of Africa.
• Kuroshio current- north flowing ocean current on the wast side of the
North pacific ocean
Wind waves
What are wind waves?
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave ,or wind- generated wave, is a water
surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water.
Wind waves result from the wind blowing over a fluid surface ,where
the contact distance in the direction of wind is known as the fetch.
• Winds blowing over the water surface generate waves. In general the
higher the wind velocity, the larger the fetch over which it blows, and
the longer it blows the higher and longer will be the average waves.
• Waves still under the action of the winds that created them are called
wind waves
Wave type Typical wavelength Disturbing force
Wind waves 60-150m Wind over ocean
Seiche Large, variable ; a function of Change in atmospheric
basin size pressure, storm surge ,tsunami
tsunami 200km Faulting of seafloor, volcanic
eruption, landslide
Tide Half the circumference of the Gravitational attraction,
earth rotation of earth.
Factors Affecting Wind Wave
Development
• Wind strength - wind must be moving faster than the wave crests for
energy transfer to continue
• Wind duration - winds that blow for a short time will not generate
large waves
• Fetch - the uninterrupted distance over which the wind blows without
changing direction
Characteristics
• They are forced waves rather than free waves.
• They are variable in their direction of advance
• They are irregular in the direction of propagation.
• The flow is rotational due to the shear stress of the wind on the water surface
• it is quite turbulent
SWELLS
• After the waves leave the generating area their characteristics become
some what different, principally they are smoother, losing the rough
appearance due to the disappearance of the multitude of smaller waves
on top of the bigger ones and the whitecaps and spray.
• When running free of the storm the waves are known as swell.
• The motion of the swell is nearly irrotational and non turbulent, unless
the swell runs into other regions where the water is in turbulent
motion.
• The size of a wave is governed by the wind speed, how long it has
blown for and the fetch length
• The depth of the water also plays a part.
Wind wave: generation and decay
• Wind blowing over the surface of a water body will transfer energy to
the water in the form of a surface current and by generating waves on
the water surface.
• The initial question is, How does a horizontal wind initiate the
formation of waves on an initially flat water surface? This process is
best explained by a resonance model proposed by Phillips.
• There are turbulent eddies in the wind field that exert a fluctuating
pressure on the water surface. These pressure fluctuations vary in
magnitude and frequency and they move forward at a range of speeds.
• The pressure fluctuations cause water surface undulations to develop
and grow.
• The key to their growth is that a resonant interaction occurs between
the forward moving pressure fluctuations and the free waves that
propagate at the same speed as the pressure fluctuations
• smaller the fetch width the lesser the chance shorter waves have of
remaining in the generating area and growing to appreciable size.
• The water depth affects the wave surface profile form and water
particle kinematics and thus the transfer of energy from the wind to the
waves.
• Water depth also limits the non-breaking wave heights.
• Bottom friction dissipates wave energy and thus retards the rate of
wave growth and the ultimate wave size.
• Wind fields grow in size and average velocity, change shape with time,
and ultimately decay
Thank you
