 Surface Ekman layer

A surface Ekman layer is the stress-driven boundary correction below a rotating fluid’s upper boundary. For upward $z\le 0$, $f>0$, constant kinematic viscosity and imposed complex wind stress $T$, its steady velocity is $W_E=T{e}^{\lambda z}/(\rho \nu \lambda )$, $\lambda =(1+i)/{\delta }_E$. The underlying geostrophic flow is independent of $T$ unless an additional boundary velocity condition couples them.