Earth ID: 3912

Global Sea Surface Currents and Temperature

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on March 16, 2012

This visualization shows sea surface current flows. The flows are colored by corresponding sea surface temperature data. This visualization is rendered for display on very high resolution devices like hyperwalls or for print media.

This visualization was produced using model output from the joint MIT/JPL project entitled Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II (ECCO2). ECCO2 uses the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) to synthesize satellite and in-situ data of the global ocean and sea-ice at resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow current systems, which transport heat and carbon in the oceans. The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization.

Global sea surface currents colored by temperature. These are the assembled (contiguous) versions of the animation. There are several resolutions to choose from, some are cropped for various purposes. The 6840x3420 version is the complete, full resolution visualization at the appropriate 2x1 aspect ratio and has not been cropped or resized. The time range for these visualizations is from 2007-03-25T12:00Z to 2008-03-03T12:00Z.

A cropped region in the Pacific illustrating the distribution of the actual flow vector data points relative to the flow curves. The white dots represent locations where the ECCO2 model defines the ocean current directions. Locations in between those locations are interpolated.

A cropped region in the Atlantic illustrating the distribution of the actual flow vector data points relative to the flow curves. The white dots represent locations where the ECCO2 model defines the ocean current directions. Locations in between those locations are interpolated. Notice the irregular distribution of grid points (e.g., bright spot near the center). This is due to the advanced cube-sphere distribution of the data points. The bright spot is one of the cube-sphere corners.

Full resolution ECCO2 flow field illustrating the distribution of the actual flow vector data points relative to the flow curves. The white dots represent locations where the ECCO2 model defines the ocean current directions. Locations in between those locations are interpolated.

Used Elsewhere In

Source Material

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Eric Sokolowsky (GST): Animator
Eric Sokolowsky (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Project Support
Michael Starobin (HTSI): Producer
Hong Zhang (UCLA): Scientist
Dimitris Menemenlis (NASA/JPL CalTech): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3912

Mission:
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)

Data Used:

ECCO2 High Resolution Ocean and Sea Ice Model also referred to as: ECCO2

Model - NASA/JPL

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GTOPO30 Topography and Bathymetry

Data Compilation - USGS - 3-2007 through 2-2008

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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of these series:
Flows
Hyperwall

Keywords:
DLESE >> Physical oceanography
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Ocean Circulation >> Ocean Currents
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Presentation
NASA Earth Science Focus Areas >> Climate Variability and Change

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0