A groundbreaking international study published in Nature has unveiled the crucial role of previously elusive small-scale ocean features in global marine dynamics. Scientists have gained an unprecedented view of ocean waves and currents using data from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a collaborative mission between NASA and the French space agency CNES.
The SWOT satellite’s high-resolution data has allowed researchers to identify and analyze eddies, internal waves, and currents too small to observe with earlier satellites or ship-based tools. These features play a vital part in transporting heat, nutrients, carbon, and energy within the ocean, reshaping our understanding of the ocean’s influence on Earth’s climate and ecosystems.
The satellite’s ability to detect these submesoscale structures across multiple oceans has led to new insights about how marine ecosystems receive essential nutrients from below. These upward nutrient fluxes support surface food webs, feeding marine life and sustaining ocean biodiversity.
The rich data sets provided by SWOT enable oceanographers to calculate water pressure and current speeds by measuring water height and slopes. This information is being integrated into existing ocean circulation models, such as NASA’s ECCO, helping to predict how energy, heat, and nutrients transfer within the ocean.
The satellite has also detected a submesoscale eddy off Japan, where researchers estimated vertical circulation speeds of 6 to 14 meters per day. Additionally, it recorded an internal solitary wave in the Andaman Sea with energy at least twice that of a typical internal tide in the region, illustrating the variability and strength of these smaller-scale features.
These findings highlight the importance of small-scale ocean features in understanding ocean dynamics and their impact on climate and ecosystems.
Source: https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/05/nasas-heat-movement-deep-in-the-ocean