Thursday, February 3, 2022
This animation depicts the upper ocean turbulence by rendering the ocean temperature on a cold-warm color palette. Blue represents the colder (denser) water mostly found in the deeper and/or higher latitude oceans. Red color represents the warmer sea water found on the upper layers of the ocean. Oceanic fronts, similar to the fronts in the atmosphere that generate strong winds and weather, are formed in the upper ocean when cold and warm waters meet sideways. These fronts and their evolution are associated with strong vertical mixing and transports. The animation is based on a global ocean numerical simulation, the ECCO simulation 1/48 (LLC4320).