drift current

drift current

[′drift ‚kə·rənt] (oceanography) A wide, slow-moving ocean current principally caused by winds. Also known as drift; wind drift; wind-driven current. Current determined from the differences between dead reckoning and a navigational fix. (plasma physics) A current of free charged particles in perpendicular electric and magnetic fields that results from an average motion of the particles in a direction perpendicular to both fields.