First detailed images of ocean currents

The European satellite GOCE-Explorer Gravity field and Ocean Circulation, for its contraction in English, was able to obtain, for the first time, extremely detailed images of how water currents move around the planet. These images record the effect of gravity on the ocean currents, which allows scientists to determine the direction and speed of the same.

The data obtained by Goce used to improve climate models studying how the oceans move heat around the globe. In the new map you can clearly see the famous Gulf Stream, the most intense of all streams, in which the water passes rapidly, reaching even more than a meter per second, in some places.

"The Gulf Stream takes warm water from the tropics and transported to higher latitudes. That heat is released into the atmosphere and keeps the climate of the British Isles, for example, much warmer than it would be otherwise," Rory said Bingham, University of Newcastle, UK.

"When this water reaches high latitudes, as it is still cold, salty and dense, it sinks. And that results in a current that helps regulate the Earth's climate," Bingham told the BBC.

Different gravities

The data on the height of the sea surface in addition to the information on the severity gives scientists an idea where the water accumulated. The European Space Agency (ESA, for its acronym in English) this satellite launched in March 2009 and is providing information since its launch is changing our view of how gravity varies across the planet.

Unlike what people believe, the force of gravity is not the same everywhere. There are subtle differences between one place and another. In the oceans, has the effect of water accumulating on the undersea mountain chains on the sink and deep oceanic trenches.

The map provides information of even the smaller streams like the Mann Eddy Atlantic. If scientists compare the data with measurements of the surface of the water taken by other satellites, can compose a much more accurate picture of where water accumulates, where you can handle and how fast.

And if we add the information collected on sea temperatures, we could calculate the amount of energy that moves the oceans in the climate system of the Earth.

Until 2012, or 2014

The information you send us is amazing Enjoy

Rory Bingham, University of Newcastle "The information you send us Goce is amazing," says Bingham. "We're getting very minimal details.'s Amazing to think, for example, that we can see from space, the characteristics of very small currents, like the Mann Eddy, a small core of Atlantic water that turns and turns without stopping."

Goce's mission will not last for long. When you run out of fuel, will fall from heaven (disintegrated upon entering the atmosphere). "We have funds and resources on board we will last at least until the end of 2012," said Rune Floberghagen, mission manager. If European governments add additional funds and not consume fast Enjoy all your fuel reserves, the date of the mission could be extended until 2014.