I'd like to know if I can generate a rough current profile of ocean
waters given temperature profiles from a grid of bathythermograph sensors and
local wind data.  Likewise, how far down does the wind effect
penetrate the waters?

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Clarification of Question by want2learn-ga on 14 Apr 2004 11:59 PDT

Okay, I now realize my question is too complex for $5.  

I'd like to change from looking for a definitive answer to looking for
links that discuss "current profiles" as they relate to

1)bathythermograph data, 
and/or 
2)"sound speed profiles"
and/or 
3)wind data

Thank you

As a retired skipper, but not university trained, my experience is
that wind generated waves are a surface action only and only extend
from trough to crest. But such waves, as in a storm, can accumulate
and build to a swell whjich can become independent of wind and be
effective right to the bottom. I have experienced swells crossing
waters sixty feet deep and breaking like surf on days when there was
no wind. These swells were on the Australian west coast, direct from
Africa and outside the reef line. B....Awsome.

If the current is geostrophic, meaning it flows perpendicular to the
pressure gradient force, which is balanced by the Coriolis force, then
you can determine the velocity as a function of depth if you know the
velocity at some reference depth, and you know the density of the
water as a function of depth and horizontal position.  But you need to
measure salinity as well as temperature to get density.  Currents deep
in the ocean are generally geostrophic, but currents which are
directly driven by the wind are not.  The region in which wind stress
is important is known as the Ekman layer, and its depth depends, among
other things, on latitude and eddy diffusivity.

Thank you racecar.  Your comment was very helpful.