Currents, Gyres, Eddies - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution What are Currents, Gyres, and Eddies? Even on the calmest days, Earth's oceans are constantly on the move At the surface and beneath, currents, gyres and eddies play a crucial role in physically shaping the coasts and ocean bottom; in transporting and mixing energy, chemicals and other materials within and among ocean basins; and in sustaining countless plants and animals that rely on the
Currents, Gyres, Eddies - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution How the Ocean Works Ocean Circulation Currents, Gyres, Eddies Go with the flow Mike Singleton, relief captain, R V Neil Armstrong describes the intricate dance of navigating ocean currents during scientific expeditions
Eddies Found to be Deep, Powerful Modes of Ocean Transport April 28, 2011 Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their colleagues have discovered that massive, swirling ocean eddies–known to be up to 500 kilometers across at the surface–can reach all the way to the ocean bottom at mid-ocean ridges, some 2,500 meters deep, transporting tiny sea creatures, chemicals, and heat from hydrothermal vents over large distances
The Oceans Have Their Own Weather Systems The Eddies Dynamics, Mixing, Export, and Species composition (EDDIES) project was born Into the eye of the oceanic storm “Dennis has wanted to do this experiment since he was a graduate student,” said Dave Siegel, a longtime collaborator with McGillicuddy and an oceanographer from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Five big discoveries from WHOI’s Ocean Twilight Zone Project Eddies—circular currents the size of a city—regularly develop in ocean waters around the globe The oceanic equivalent of an atmospheric storm, eddies of warm water provide pathways for large ocean predators to reach the twilight zone Sharks, tuna, and other fish use their environment to regulate body temperature, which limits their
A Warm Eddy Swirling in the Cold Labrador Sea Eddies can maintain their integrity for long distances—in this case, carrying cargoes of warm water from a warm current flowing around Greenland into the cold Labrador Sea We know very little about these eddies, but we think they play an important role in the circulation of the Labrador Sea, and perhaps the whole Atlantic Ocean
Eddies in the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean, Observed from Ice-Tethered . . . ticyclonic eddies to be an important dynamical feature of the halocline This is the first study of eddies in the central Canada Basin that extends as far north as 79°N, and it reveals shallower eddies likely having different origins than the more southern eddies of past studies The eddies are characterized by local minima in tem-
WHOI Arctic Group | Projects | Eddies - Woods Hole Oceanographic . . . The number of eddies with reliable physical property estimates was sufficient to generate meaningful statistics of eddy size, strength, and vertical structure The majority of center depths were between 90 and 160~m and the mean vertical extent was 130~m Thus, eddies were found predominantly within the cold halocline
Diving in Eddies - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is the world's leading non-profit oceanographic research organization Our mission is to explore and understand the ocean and to educate scientists, students, decision-makers, and the pub