| drift current [`drift ´kǝ·rǝnt] OCEANOGRAPHY 1. A wide, slow-moving ocean current principally caused by winds. Also known as drift; wind drift; wind-driven current. 2. 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. |