Image Description
NSCAT Level 3 ocean wind speed (colored contours) has been overlaid with pseudo-streamlines (white lines with embedded arrows) to show wind speed and mean flow direction, obtained from measurements valid for June 25-27, 1997. White patches are where measurement gaps have occurred for this time period. The pseudo-streamlines are used to show the flow characteristics, such as: convergent or divergent, confluent or difluent, cyclonic or anti-cyclonic.

Convergent/divergent flow is characterized by atmospheric motion that is tending to approach/depart toward/from a given point-of-reference from/toward opposing directions. Confluent/difluent flow is characterized by atmospheric motion that is converging/diverging toward/from an axis that is normal to the direction of the flow. Cyclonic/anti-cyclonic refers to the direction of flow rotation within a defined circumference around a particular point-of-reference; cyclonic/anti-cyclonic is defined as counter-clockwise/clockwise rotation in the Northern/Southern Hemisphere.

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