MessageToEagle.com - Remote sensing from satellites is the most efficient way to get global information
about these vast, hard-to measure expanses like for example - our oceans.
The ocean is a major player in the Earth system. It is in constant motion. Winds drive currents on the ocean
surface and these currents in turn mix down into the ocean depths.
Data from buoys, drifters, and satellites such as ocean color, sea height, temperature, and
winds, provide us with observations about the speed and direction of currents and about heat stored in the ocean,
which help to predict global climate variations.
Working on a joint project, scientists of MIT and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have produced a stunning new
animated video called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean.
It displays the flow of the world's ocean currents swirling in captivating splendor.
The video, titled "Perpetual Ocean," takes an astronaut's view, as if the viewer is in a waltz-like dance orbiting around the Earth.
This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005
through Decmeber 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use
ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.
Click on image to enlarge
This visualization was produced using NASA/JPL's computational model called Estimating the Circulation and
Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2.. ECCO2 is high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice.
ECCO2 attempts to model the oceans and sea ice to increasingly accurate resolutions that begin to resolve
ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans.
The video shows just how complex and vital the oceans are, and the intricacy by which heat and carbon is
transferred and transported. It's also fascinating to follow the tiny details of the currents regionally.
Try imagining yourself as a tiny paper boat and see where they might take you. The exercise may reveal an
amazing amount about how connected faraway places really are via the world's ocean currents.
It's a global world indeed.
The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization.
The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x
and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x.
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MessageToEagle.com - Remote sensing from satellites is the most efficient way to get global information
about these vast, hard-to measure expanses like for example - our oceans.
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