Equatorial transport driven by periodically rotating wind stress

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Why is it important?

In this work we develop a theory that extends Ekman's fundamental wind of the ocean surface transport that results from the action of the overlying wind. The classic work is extended in our study to the equatorial region where the Coriolis frequency varies linearly with the latitude and the overlying wind rotates (in space) periodically (in time). We find that the Lagrangian model predicts chaotic response for some values of the wind stress amplitude and frequency. A unique finding is that there exist special values under which water is transported eastward at high speeds that can reach 1 m/s.