= Ocean current
An <ocean current> is organized water motion that transports <mass>, <heat>, salt and other properties through the ocean. Surface winds, <pressure> gradients, <buoyancy> changes, Earth's rotation and <friction> all contribute, with their relative importance depending on scale and depth.
A steady large-scale interior flow can approximately balance a horizontal <pressure> gradient against the <Coriolis force>, while boundary currents require additional dynamics. <Henry Stommel> showed that the latitude dependence of rotation, combined with <friction> in a wind-driven basin, can concentrate the return flow on the western side. The circulation is therefore not simply water moving in the direction of the local wind.<The westward intensification of wind-driven ocean currents by Henry Stommel>[1948 rotating-basin model with wind stress and linear bottom friction]{ref}
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