Perpetual Ocean by NASA

[Palinurus]

Hi to all,

Since this topic doesn't seem to fit anywhere else I placed it here. Originally found today on boing boing (_http://www.boingboing.net/) it's an animated global overview of all current flows in all seas and oceans in recent years made by NASA.
Awesome view, imho.

This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.

This visualization was produced using model output from the joint MIT/JPL project: Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or 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. ECCO2 provides ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization. The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x.

This visualization was submitted to the SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival, but it wasn't selected by the jury.

Available at:

_http://boingboing.net/2012/04/12/the-motion-of-the-ocean.html

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&hl=en&v=WEe1bVjORN4&gl=US

_http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003827/ for direct downloads in different formats.

 

[bngenoh]

Amazing Palinurus, thanks for sharing,

Just think, such magnificence, beauty, & grandeur, is taking place even as i type these words on our beautiful mother Gaia. Hideousness that is the exact opposite in magnitude is also occurring, the Palestinians are being starved by the psychopathic state that is Israel, plans are being implemented for war with Iran, the Syrian peoples are experiencing the "democratizing" process courtesy of NATO, etc.

Tis a wonder to behold, this phenomenon called existence.