The Ekman layer refers to a layer in the ocean or atmosphere that is influenced by the Earth's rotation and characterized by a specific current profile due to the balance of forces acting on the water or air. It is named after the Swedish oceanographer Vagn Walfrid Ekman, who studied the effects of the Coriolis force on wind-driven currents.
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An Ekman layer is a viscous boundary layer in a rotating fluid. For constant kinematic viscosity and Coriolis parameter , its characteristic thickness is , and its velocity turns with distance from the boundary.