NASA's Perpetual Ocean Video
Posted on March 29, 2012
NASA Goddard uploaded this video today of a visualization showing ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through Decemeber 2007. The visualization was produced using NASA/JPL's computational model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2. ECCO2 attempts to model the oceans and sea ice to increasingly accurate resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans. NASA says ECCO2 can simulate ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows were used in the visualization.
The video was already viraling around the Internet even before NASA uploaded it to YouTube. Bloggers have been comparing the image to Vincent Van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting, which coincidentally was recently animated by an artist.
Here is NASA's Perpetual Ocean video:
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