Tracking the Great Whirl (VIDEO)
Caption
This animation tracks the Great Whirl from May to December of 2000. The color of the water represents sea levels - the redder the color, the higher the seas. The black outline represents the new algorithm used for identifying the Great Whirl, and the white stars indicate the highest sea levels within the Whirl. The animation starts before the Whirl forms and ends after it disappears. After forming, most fluctuations are due to smaller eddies traveling east to west that are absorbed along the eastern edge of the Whirl. The new method for identifying the Whirl is an improvement over past methods because it can potentially identify the Whirl before it's completely organized and it avoids classifying the disappearance and rapid re-emergence events as two distinct eddies, when in fact they are one and the same.
Credit
Bryce Melzer
Usage Restrictions
None
License
Licensed content