The formation process of the Ekman spiral and the behavior of the Ekman transport have been examined through the analysis of the motion equation. This analysis has revealed that the Ekman spiral is similar to the Stokes boundary layer fundamentally and that the steady drift current generally known is not the current at the passage of long time but merely the inertia-periodically averaged current. The usual idea that the Ekman transport flows in the rightward direction is also the result of the inertia-periodical average of the volume transport of the drift current.
Drift currents
the Earth rotation effect
Ekman spiral
inertia current
Ekman transport