currents Archives

Maps showing the composite average of “open” and “closed valve” conditions for the Labrador Current.

Gulf Stream Closes the Valve of the Labrador Current

by Takeyoshi Nagai 17 March 202316 March 2023

Virtual particles released in the Labrador Current revealed that the westward penetration of the current into the shelf seas is inhibited by warm core rings emanating from the Gulf Stream.

Diagram showing the proposed mechanism of the weakening of the Ryukyu Current.

Editors' Highlights

Weakened Kuroshio Slows Down the Ryukyu Current

by Takeyoshi Nagai 2 March 202323 February 2023

A combination of the weakened Kuroshio in the Tokara Strait and an increase in anticyclonic eddies led to the slowdown of the Ryukyu Current from 1993 to 2018.

A yellow submarine-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle hangs from a cable over the side of ship as technicians and scientists look on.

Research Spotlights

Exploring a Warm Water Inflow Below an Antarctic Ice Shelf

by Sarah Derouin 5 December 20225 December 2022

Researchers guided an autonomous underwater submarine to capture the first direct observations of a warm water current flowing in below the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Satellite images of four different river basins.

Editors' Highlights

Disentangling River Water Turbidity and its Flow

by Simone Bizzi 3 November 20223 November 2022

A new study shows why fine sediments in rivers are not simply proportional to the water flow across the United States.

Magnified black-and-white images of two fossils.

Research Spotlights

Fluid Dynamics of Tiny, Ancient Marine Animals

by Sarah Stanley 2 November 202217 February 2023

Water flow simulations using 3D models of fossils yield new clues to the evolution of organisms known as medusozoans.

A view over open ocean toward a large iceberg with part of a large yellow spherical mooring float in the foreground

Research Spotlights

When Winds and Currents Align, Ocean Mixing Goes Deep

by Sarah Derouin 31 October 202217 November 2022

Slantwise convection in the Irminger Sea off Greenland appears to mix ocean water to deeper depths than previously thought, representing an important contribution to Atlantic overturning.

Graphs and diagrams from the paper showing a merger event of eddies Bob and Tom in fall 2009.

Editors' Highlights

How do Bob and Tom Eddies Meet, Pair-Spin, and Twist?

by Takeyoshi Nagai 14 October 202212 October 2022

Autonomous float data reveal that mergers of two eddies, known to have spiraling subducting water surrounding each other, happens more frequently than previously thought.

Editors' Highlights

Two Kinds of Warm Core Rings Emanate From the Gulf Stream

by Takeyoshi Nagai 12 October 202211 October 2022

A new study reveals that long-lived warm core rings found in the “Ring Corridor”, a narrow path north of the Gulf Stream, have two different formation mechanisms.