Langmuir circulation

Langmuir circulation
White streaks in this lagoon are due to the Langmuir circulation.
These lines of sargassum can stretch for miles along the surface. The clumps of floating algae are often concentrated by the strong winds and wave action associated with the Gulf Stream.

In physical oceanography, Langmuir circulation consists of a series of shallow, slow, counter-rotating vortices at the ocean's surface aligned with the wind. These circulations are developed when wind blows steadily over the sea surface. Irving Langmuir discovered this phenomenon after observing windrows of seaweed in the Sargasso Sea in 1927.[1] Langmuir circulations circulate within the mixed layer; however, it is not yet so clear how strongly they can cause mixing at the base of the mixed layer. [2]

  1. ^ Open University (2001), Ocean Circulation (2nd ed.), Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN 9780750652780
  2. ^ Thorpe, S.A. (2004), "Langmuir circulation", Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 36: 55–79, Bibcode:2004AnRFM..36...55T, doi:10.1146/annurev.fluid.36.052203.071431