Problem: What is the difference between the Ekman spiral and Ekman transport? Need Assignment Help? The Ekman spiral is rotating movement of the ocean's water column beneath a storm. The Ekman transport is the current from the center of the rotation (center of the storm) to the edge of the spiraling/rotating water (at edge of storm) The Ekman Spiral is the whirlpool effect of the wind on the ocean. The Ekman Transport is the downwelling current caused by the Ekman Spiral. The two Ekman phenomena - the Spiral and the Transport - have the same first name, but ironically, there is no real connection between the two terms. The Ekman spiral is the Coriolis-induced multi-direction water current movement within a wind-generated surface current. The Ekman transport is the net motion of the surface current, after summing up all the layers within a current affected by the Ekman spiral. They are both techniques used for measuring rotating ocean gyre currents. The Ekman Spiral technique uses a giant corkscrew-like device dropped in the current, while the Ekman Transport method uses a sail-drone to measure the current.