The Highways of the World's Oceans

This visualization of the earth's ocean currents is from NASA’s ECCO (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean) Group, and uses data and models from all kinds of different sources. Your first impression may be like mine, when you saw The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh in the different swirling shades of blue. Not only do we have global ocean currents moving east, they are surrounded at different depth levels by circular eddies and whirlpools of all sizes. Water likes to go around in a circle. All this movement is powered by the rotation of the earth, weather patterns, and temperature differences. As the weather affects the ocean's movements, those movements also affect the weather around the globe. It's as if there were a whole system underneath sea level that refreshes the earth by moving water, salt, and heat to other places all the time. Because that's exactly what happens. (via Geeks Are Sexy)