GIS Layer: Wind Curl in the Australian Region

This dataset is the wind driven component of transport in the surface boundary is directed perpendicular to wind stress. Negative wind stress curl indicates the winds are placing a clockwise spin on the ocean surface whereas positive wind stress curl indicates the winds are placing a anti-clockwise spin on the ocean surface. (The curl of a field of vectors is a vector which measures the tendency of the vectors to induce rotation.). Wind curl is calculated for the 23 year period from 1976 to 1998 inclusive. Calculated from NCEP Reanalysis data provided by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/