eddy, fluid current whose flow direction differs from that of the general flow; the motion of the whole fluid is the net result of the movements of the eddies that compose it. Eddies can transfer much more energy and dissolved matter within the fluid than can molecular diffusion in nonturbulent flow because eddies actually mix together large masses of fluid. Flow composed largely of eddies is called turbulent; eddies generally become more numerous as the fluid flow velocity increases. Energy is constantly transferred from large to small eddies until it is dissipated. (See fluid mechanics.)
In the lee of an obstacle, eddies form only when the flow around the obstacle reaches a critical velocity; they represent a flow of fluid into the space behind the obstacle, and this inflow begins only when the general flow is fast enough to produce a lowered pressure there. Eddies or vortices (whirlpools) so produced can also cause sound. Many sounds, both natural and man-made, occur in this way.
In the Earth’s atmosphere, small eddies occur in the daytime when surface air is warmed by contact with the ground and then rises. On a larger scale, the huge high- and low-pressure centres that move over the Earth may be considered eddies because they are anomalous to the general circulation. These movements include tropical hurricanes and typhoons and the less intense cyclones and anticyclones of the mid-latitude westerly wind belts; the Rossby waves in the upper levels of the westerlies also are eddies. The mid-latitude cyclones, anticyclones, and Rossby waves, by transferring angular momentum (the measure of intensity of rotational motion) from the easterly to the westerly wind belts, play an important role in maintaining the global atmospheric circulation.
In the oceans, eddies result from many causes, including wind blowing over the water’s surface and upwelling along coasts.