BHUT (EUP) Westward currents

[seaphilia]

Saturday afternoon, we decided to dive EUP, thinking that by 3pm, the beach combers and swimming kids would be leaving. Wrong. Took us 30 minutes to get a parking spot. We checked out the beach, relaxed a bit in the sun, and watched a patrolman write tickets for all the illegally parked cars, "Wait, wait, don't write me a ticket, I'm coming". It was quite entertaining.

There was a stiff wind blowing toward the beach and after a swim out through small rough breakers, we descended at 6:08pm. Pretty much max flood. We were beyond the Jetty when we dropped down onto Enhancement Way. The further west we went, the worst the vis and the stronger the west flowing current. The vis was a weird luminous brown, could see my buddy from 10 feet, but couldn't see the yellow on his dry suit. It was ripping. Did see the usual cool stuff, including a cabezon that let me settle down beside him. Didn't even raise his dorsal fins, just rolled those big eyes at me.

Afterwards I looked at the satellite image and tried to figure out why the western flowing current. A couple of divers I spoke with have experienced this. Any ideas? Anyone else noticed this?

[dsteding]

Ekman transport? Was the wind out of the northwest?

[H20doctor]

you can have all kinds of current at edmonds ... ESp in the shalllows coming back in .... just depends on what the tides are doing for the day ? and How you plan it there .... Ive had wicked surface current there , but nothing at depth ?

[seaphilia]

Ekman transport? Was the wind out of the northwest?

What is the "Ekman transport"? Yes it was from the northwest, almost directly onto the beach.

[LCF]

Hmm. I've had westward water flow, but it was on ebbing tides, which kind of makes sense.

But currents at Edmonds aren't straightforward, and there's definitely some kind of eddy there that makes it different from the old Oil Dock site. I've had current when I thought there should be none, and no current when the tides suggested it should have been challenging.

[dsteding]

Ekman transport? Was the wind out of the northwest?

What is the "Ekman transport"? Yes it was from the northwest, almost directly onto the beach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekman_transport

[Joshua Smith]

I think I got some of that Ekman transport in my isobaric counter diffusion one time.

[oldsalt]

Josh: While the math and physics of Ekman transport may seem daunting to you literate types, the conclusion seems straight forward. Actually, if you think literally, the conclusion is skewed 90 degrees. We expect the surface current generated by the wind to be 90 degrees to the right of the wind direction. In this case this fits the observed currents and winds. Is that cool or what? I experience this at Mukilteo when an extended south wind produces an east setting current despite the predicted tidal flow. If you enjoy nautical lore, the literature relating to Nansen and the discovery of Ekman transport merit reading. Nansen and his ilk were tough characters.
- Curt