An analytical response of an oceanic surface layer to wind stress is given for those solutions in which horizontal pressure and stress gradients are neglected. The vertically averaged velocity U of the surface layer is seen to be the sum of time-damped inertial oscillations. For the wind stress &tgr;, that is relatively constant, the analytical solution reduces to U=T&tgr;s, with both the Coriolis and bottom friction effects included in the matrix .4. An empirical analysis method is presented which compares the theoretical transports based on wind data with actual velocities as determined by Lagrangian observations. This method can be used to determine the effect of bottom friction, the depth of the wind-driven surface layer, and the time-integrated effect of horizontal pressure and stress gradients. An example is presented using wind and position data collected on the Arctic ice pack during the summer of 1975.