Turbidity currents move suspended sediment into the ocean. In general, the more sediment, the stronger the turbidity current, but one process may generate turbidity currents from very dilute rivers.
currents
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Are Microplastics Transported to Polar Regions?
New modeling indicates that global subsurface ocean currents distribute submerged microplastics along very different routes than those traveled by floating plastic debris.
Posted inNews
Volcanic Eruption Creates Temporary Islands of Pumice
Rafts of pumice, spewed from an undersea volcano, recently appeared in the South Pacific. These transient, movable islands are important toeholds for marine life like barnacles, coral, and macroalgae.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How the Ocean’s “Shadow Zone” Breathes
A new study uses Argo floats and an ocean circulation model to track the sources supplying pulses of oxygen to the deep North Pacific.
Posted inEditors' Vox
The Kuroshio Current: Artery of Life
The waters of the Kuroshio Current in the northwestern Pacific Ocean transport heat, salt, and organic and inorganic matter from south to north, shaping the ocean ecosystem.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Science in a Frozen Ocean
It’s notoriously difficult to access, but new technologies, international collaboration, regional models, and interdisciplinary approaches are improving understanding of the Weddell Gyre.
Posted inNews
What’s the True Shape of An Ocean Eddy?
Ocean eddies spin round and round, but not in a perfect circle.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Demystifying Sea Level Changes Along the New England Coast
No direct causal connection exists between coastal sea level changes and the strength of the North Atlantic’s overturning circulation, according to new, longer-term observational records.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Arctic Glacial Retreat Alters Downstream Fjord Currents
High-resolution mapping efforts could improve predictions of coastal changes as glaciers shrink around the world.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Creating Icebergs in Ocean Models Coupled to Ice Shelves
Modeling icebergs as Lagrangian elements held together by numerical bonds provides insights into coupled exchanges of heat, freshwater, and momentum between large icebergs and the ocean.