For the first time, researchers combine estimates of sea surface height and circulation patterns in both ice-covered and ice-free regions of the Southern Ocean.
currents
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scientists Discover New Ocean Current off Madagascar
The warm and salty Southwest Madagascar Coastal Current influences upwelling that supports rich marine ecosystems along the southern coast.
Posted inNews
Reversing Earth’s Spin Moves Deserts, Reshapes Ocean Currents
A climate model with reversed rotation of Earth helps climatologists and oceanographers understand why our planet is the way it is and reveals how different it could have been.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Chaos Beneath a Calm Sea
Seismic data help reveal fine-scale wave breaking, instability and turbulence in the ocean interior.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Do Deep-Sea Gravity Currents Transport Sediment So Far?
The first field measurements of turbidity currents flowing around submarine channel bends indicate spiral flow plays a key role in keeping sediment suspended for hundreds of kilometers.
Posted inNews
Gulf Stream Slowed as Hurricanes Struck
Hurricanes Jose and Maria temporarily decelerated this powerful ocean current’s flow last year, according to data from an ocean glider that rode the stream between Florida and Massachusetts.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Two Paired Eddies Travel Faster and Further Than One
The first observational evidence of dipole eddy pairs (modons) in the southern midlatitude ocean reveals that they move faster, live longer, and travel greater distances compared to single eddies.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Sloping Topography and Oceanic Surface Modes
An accurate understanding of the influence of ocean bottom topography helps to diagnose the velocities of subsurface currents.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Microfossils Illuminate Ancient Ocean Currents
Researchers use dissolved silicon concentrations to map out how currents may have changed millennia ago in the Pacific.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
World’s Biggest Oxygen Producers Living in Swirling Ocean Waters
Oceanographers probe the impact of deep swirling vortices on phytoplankton.