Stokes transport

Abstract

The volume transport associated with the Stokes drift for a fully developed surface-gravity-wave field is calculated from an empirical ocean energy spectrum to increase as the cube of the wind speed and to have the magnitudes 0.3–2.5 m3/sec for the wind speeds 10–20 m/sec. The vertical velocity beneath the wave boundary layer induced by the horizontal divergence of the Stokes drift over a fetch of 1000 km is estimated to be 0.3–2.5×10−4 cm/sec for the same wind speed range.