View source for Depth of frictional influence



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== depth of frictional influence ==
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<div class="definition"><div class="short_definition">The depth below the ocean surface to which the [[stress]] (horizontal  force/unit area) of the [[wind]] reaches.</div><br/> <div class="paragraph">To measure this depth, the turbulent stress must be directly measured. This is rarely done, but  is more often inferred through observations of current profiles and fitting to an [[Ekman layer]]  profile [e.g., Eqs. (9.9) and (9.10) in Pond and Pickard (1978)]. Because of the strong effect  [[stratification]] has on [[turbulent transport]], the depth of frictional influence is also taken to be  equal to the depth of the [[mixed layer]], and this is in turn found by observations of [[temperature]]  and/or [[salinity]] profiles.</div><br/> </div><div class="reference">Pond, S., and G. L. Pickard 1978. Introductory Dynamic Oceanography. Pergamon Press, . p. 87. </div><br/> 
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