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An overview of the winds and directly forced ocean response associated with the Southwest Monsoon is provided by this schematic cross-section of the ocean taken perpendicular to the coast of Oman. The jet of the surface winds drives water to its right in the northern hemisphere as "Ekman transport" (red arrows). Along the coast because of the boundary this leads to cool water rising to the surface, or upwelling. Moving offshore, the varying strength of the wind leads to differences in the strength of the Ekman transport, causing a divergence of surface water and upwelling inshore of the wind maximum, and a convergence and downwelling offshore of the wind maximum (blue arrows).[back]
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