gyre / jīr/ • v. [intr.] poetic/lit. whirl; gyrate: a swarm of ghosts gyred around him.• n. a spiral; a vortex. ∎ Geog. a circular pattern of currents in an ocean basin: the central North Pacific gyre.

gyre(ocean gyre) A circular or spiral motion of water, the term usually being applied to a semi-closed current system. A major gyre exists in each of the main ocean basins, centred at about 30° from the equator and displaced towards the western sides of the ocean (‘western intensification’). Gyres are generated mainly by surface winds and move clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.

gyre (ocean gyre) Circular or spiral motion of water, the term usually being applied to a semiclosed current system. A major gyre exists in each of the main ocean basins, centred at about 30° from the equator and displaced towards the western sides of the ocean (‘western intensification’). Gyres are generated mainly by surface winds and move clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.