Antarctic Ocean Flows: an excerpt from Atlas of a Changing Earth (4k format)

  • Released Tuesday, August 24, 2021
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This visualization shows how the ocean circulation in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica flows around and under the floating ice shelves and glaciers. The ocean flows are colored by temperature with blue indicating colder and red showing warmer currents. This version includes a title, credits, narration and music.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.

In this visualization of Antarctica, we cruise along the coastline of the Amundsen Sea from Cape Dart to the Pine Island Glacier. Initially we pass the massive Getz Ice Shelf on our right stretching over 300 miles (500 km) along the coast. As we approach the Smith Glacier and the Dotson Ice Shelf, the sea surface becomes transparent allowing us to see the ocean flows moving under the surface. These flows portray the direction, speed and temperature of the ocean circulation based on version 3 of the ECCO ocean circulation model. The flows are colored by temperature, spanning the range from 29.75 degrees fahrenheit (-1.25 degrees celsius) shown in blue to 34.25 degrees fahrenheit (+1.25 degrees celsius) shown in red. We see the ocean flows circulating around the Pine Island Bay and under the adjacent floating ice tongue of the Thwaites Glacier.

As we approach the Pine Island Glacier, we dip below the surface of the bay and see the stratification of the temperature in the ocean flows, with the coldest water shown in blue near the surface and the warmer water shown in red at lower depths. We move forward under the floating ice of the Pine Island Glacier and see how the warmer ocean flows are circulating under the glacier's floating tongue, eroding the ice from beneath.

The topography in this visualization has been exaggerated by 4x above sea level and 15x below sea level in order to more clearly observe the change in ocean temperature at various depths.

This is the same as the above visualization without the title, credits, narration or music.

A high-resolution image of the coastline of the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica from Cape Dart to the Pine Island Bay. The Getz Ice Shelf seen in the foreground stretches 300 miles (500 km) along the coastline of the Amundsen Sea.

A high-resolution image of the coastline of the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica from Cape Dart to the Pine Island Bay. The Getz Ice Shelf seen in the foreground stretches 300 miles (500 km) along the coastline of the Amundsen Sea.

A high-resolution image of the ocean circulation in and around the Pine Island bay. The flows are colored by temperature, spanning the range from 29.75 degrees fahrenteit (-1.25 degrees celsius) shown in blue to 34.25 degrees fahrenheit (+1.25 degrees celsius) shown in red.

A high-resolution image of the ocean circulation in and around the Pine Island bay. The flows are colored by temperature, spanning the range from 29.75 degrees fahrenteit (-1.25 degrees celsius) shown in blue to 34.25 degrees fahrenheit (+1.25 degrees celsius) shown in red.

A high-resolution image of the ocean circulation in the Pine Island Bay.

A high-resolution image of the ocean circulation in the Pine Island Bay.

A high-resolution image showing the temperature stratification beneath the surface of the water in the Pine Island Bay with the coldest water shown in blue near the surface and the warmer water shown in red at lower depths.

A high-resolution image showing the temperature stratification beneath the surface of the water in the Pine Island Bay with the coldest water shown in blue near the surface and the warmer water shown in red at lower depths.

A high-resolution image showing the warm ocean circulation underneath the floating ice tongue of the Pine Island Glacier.

A high-resolution image showing the warm ocean circulation underneath the floating ice tongue of the Pine Island Glacier.

The colorbar used to portray the ocean temperature in degrees fahrenheit

The colorbar used to portray the ocean temperature in degrees fahrenheit

The colorbar used to portray the temperature of the ocean in degrees celsius

The colorbar used to portray the temperature of the ocean in degrees celsius

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Tuesday, August 24, 2021.
This page was last updated on Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 12:12 AM EDT.

Datasets used

  • LIMA (Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica) [Landsat-7: ETM+]

    ID: 599
    Type: Mosaic Sensor: ETM+ Collected by: NASA/GSFC, British Antarctic Survey, USGS EROS Data Center

    Mosaicing to avoid clouds produced a high quality, nearly cloud-free benchmark data set of Antarctica for the International Polar Year from images collected primarily during 1999-2003.

    This dataset can be found at: http://lima.nasa.gov/

    See all pages that use this dataset

  • ECCO3 High Resolution Ocean and Sea Ice Model

    ID: 802
    Type: Model Collected by: NASA/JPL
    See all pages that use this dataset

  • Mosaic of Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica [Landsat 8: OLI]

    ID: 1098
    Type: Mosaic Sensor: OLI

    An image mosaic comprised of 20 LandSat 8 tiles on the Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica

    Credit: Landsat 8 mission

    See all pages that use this dataset

  • BedMachine Antarctica V1

    ID: 1099
    Type: Data Compilation

    A self-consistent dataset of the Antarctic Ice Sheet based on the conservation of mass

    Credit: Morlighem, M., Rignot, E., Binder, T. et al. Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet. Nature Geoscience 13, 132–137 (2020)

    See all pages that use this dataset

  • REMA (Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica - 100m)

    ID: 1110
    Type: Data Compilation Collected by: The Polar Geospatial Center (PGC)

    High resolution, time-stamped Digital Surface Model (DSM) of Antarctica at 100-meter spatial resolution

    Credit: DEMs provided by the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and the Polar Geospatial. Computer time provided through a Blue Waters Innovation Initiative. DEMs produced using data from DigitalGlobe, Inc.

    See all pages that use this dataset

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