This visualization, captured by NASA, shows the course of the Gulf Stream, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Western Europe through bright ripples of color representing the temperature of the water. This photo is fascinating because of the intense bright colors and the movement of the ocean that is visible through these colors. The swirls captivate your eyes and then guide them through the photo allowing you to experience the wide range of color presented. This image shows the sea surface flows along with the light and dark patterns under the ocean that represent the bathymetry (topography) of the water.
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Third prize for best of web. The captured large-scale flow visualization of flows across the earth is incredible. The crispness of the image as well as the choice of colors to visualize the flow and land also create great aesthetics in this image.
I want to post for recognition here. Normally simulations are interesting but don’t have as much credibility as visualization of natural phenomena, but the fact that in this case satellite data informed the simulation model means we can see a legitimate representation of what large scale ocean currents are doing, and that is awesome. This is one of those images that opens the eye to a high level of perspective on global fluid physics that people wouldn’t see by just photographic imaging. Really nice find. Thanks for sharing.