Introduction | Tank – How to | Tank – Examples | Theory | Wiki
The figures below are from a wind-driven gyre experiment. The circulation is unsteady and rather irregular – pristine, laminar gyres are not in evidence! But the experiment clearly demonstrates the presence of western boundary currents.
The ‘poleward’ side of the tank is at the top. In the top left figure, red dye has been inserted in the north-east and south west corners. As can be seen in the top right and bottom left panels, the dye in the south-west corner enters a swift western boundary current which runs up the boundary, strikes the northern wall and then turns eastwards. In contrast the dye on the eastern boundary does not accelerate southwards: there is no eastern boundary current. The green dye blobs in the bottom right hand figure enable one to view the process again.
