Global Ocean Simulation, Currents and Eddies, 2015
Ocean currents and eddies in a high-resolution global ocean simulation. The Model For Prediction Across Scales-Ocean (MPAS-Ocean) is used to investigate the effects of climate change. Colors show speed, where white is fast and blue is slow. Detailed turbulent structures are visible throughout the Southern Ocean, where the Antarctic circumpolar current flows eastward around the globe. Large eddies are particularly visible in the Agulhas current at the southern tip of Africa. These ocean simulations are validated against satellite and shipboard observations. Even though individual eddies occur on scales of 10-150 km, their cumulative effects have large and long-ranging consequences on the earth's climate. In the Southern Ocean, eddies transport heat poleward. The strength of large-scale circulations in the northern hemisphere is sensitive to the turbulence in the Southern Ocean. Ocean models are used to test how these interactions may be altered in a changing climate. This high-resolution simulation includes 90 million grid cells, ranging from 10 to 30 km in horizontal width. It is run on a super computer using eight thousand processors.
Size: 4500px × 3021px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2010s, 2015, 21st, alamos, century, change, climate, climatology, computer, currents, eddies, generated, global, laboratory, lanl, los, meteorological, meteorology, model, national, ocean, oceanographic, oceanographical, oceanography, research, science, simulation, warming
