The Mozambique Channel boasts some of the world’s most turbulent waters, driven by eddies hundreds of kilometers wide. Eddies of this size — known as mesoscale — determine regional flows Keep reading
Tag: oceanography
Climate Change and the Equatorial Cold Tongue
A cold region of Pacific waters stretches westward along the equator from the coast of Ecuador. Known as the equatorial cold tongue, this region exists because trade winds push surface Keep reading
Salt Fingers
Any time a fluid under gravity has areas of differing density, it convects. We’re used to thinking of this in terms of temperature — “hot air rises” — but temperature Keep reading
Growing Ice
While much attention is given to the summer loss of sea ice, the birth of new ice in the fall is also critical. Ice loss in the summer leaves oceans Keep reading
Mapping the Oceans With Seals
Elephant seals are harbingers — canaries in the coal mine — for climate change. A long-running experiment tracks northern elephant seal populations using a combination of sensor tags and field Keep reading
Resolution Effects on Ocean Circulation
The Gulf Stream current carries warm, salty water from the Gulf of Mexico northeastward. In the North Atlantic, this water cools and sinks and drifts southwestward, emerging centuries later in Keep reading
Trapped in a Taylor Column
The world’s largest iceberg, A23a, is stuck. It’s not beached; there are a thousand meters or more of water beneath it. But thanks to a quirk of the Earth’s rotation, Keep reading
Turning the Beach Pink
Lab experiments and numerical simulations can only take us so far; sometimes there’s no substitute for getting out into the field. That’s why a beach in San Diego turned pink Keep reading
Streaks of Sea Ice
As summer approaches in the Southern Ocean, sea ice melts, but the process is not purely one-way. Temperatures in some locations are cold enough for some limited new freezing. The Keep reading
Where Wind Meets Water
That the wind causes ocean waves is obvious to anyone who has spent time near the water, but the details of that process remain fuzzy. Many of the explanations — Keep reading