A steady southward wind blows parallel to the north-south coast of central California…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Fluids & Continuum Physics · Convection, rotation and geophysical flows · Convection, rotation and geophysical flows

Fluid Dynamics, Ch Rotating fluids: geostrophy, Taylor columns and Ekman layers

Problem

A steady southward wind blows parallel to the north-south coast of central California at latitude

35^\circ\mathrm{N}

, exerting a stress of

0.15\,\mathrm{N\,m^{-2}}

on the sea surface. Take the seawater density as

1025\,\mathrm{kg\,m^{-3}}

. ((a)) Find the Ekman transport per unit length of coastline, directed offshore. ((b)) Find the total volume flux carried offshore along

200\,\mathrm{km}

of coast.

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