Submerged in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain and Portugal are giant, salty whirlpools of warm water. These deep-water whirlpools are part of the ocean’s circulatory system, and they help drive the ocean currents that moderate Earth’s climate. Warm water ordinarily sits at the ocean’s surface, but the warm water flowing out of the Mediterranean Sea is so salty (and therefore dense) that when it enters the Atlantic Ocean at the Strait of Gibraltar, it sinks to depths of more than 1,000 meters (one-half mile) along the continental shelf. This underwater river then separates into clockwise-flowing eddies that may continue to spin westward for more than two years, often coalescing with other eddies to form giant, salty whirlpools that may stretch for hundreds of miles. Because the eddies originate from the Mediterranean Sea, scientists call them “Meddies.”
Published Mar 23, 2006
Weakening trade winds are allowing warm water to move east across the Pacific in a telltale pattern.
Published Aug 5, 2015
Ocean conditions are not likely to help drought-stressed regions this spring. However, some broader changes might be coming in the Pacific.
Published Mar 25, 2015
With its own forms of underwater weather, the ocean has fronts and circulation patterns that move heat and nutrients around its basins. Changes near the surface often start with changes in the depths.
Published Mar 21, 2017
A Korean satellite provides an hourly view of the phytoplankton in the ocean, while also offering a testbed for future ocean-observing satellite missions.
Published Jun 21, 2016
La Niña, the large area of cold water in the Pacific Ocean widely blamed for last summer's drought and often related to an increase in the number of hurricanes that make landfall, appears to be on its last legs.
Published May 10, 2000
As NASA's latest care package heads toward the International Space Station, it traveled over beautiful Earth landscapes—from scenic snowscapes to desolate deserts.
Published Dec 21, 2018
Some of the clearest, bluest ocean waters on Earth are found in the South Pacific.
Published Oct 12, 2017
Examining temperatures from the depths of the ocean, JPL scientists have found that lower layers of the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans grew much warmer during a decade when surface temperatures cooled.
Published Jul 10, 2015
Past events suggest the phenomenon winds down after December and January. But will this year follow the pattern?
Published Jan 22, 2016
An important player in the nitrogen cycle, Trichodesmium makes a seasonal appearance off the northeast coast of Australia.
Published Sep 16, 2019
With each passing month, 2015 looks more and more like 1997.
Published Oct 13, 2015
