OSCAR Ocean Currents with Velocity

  • Released Monday, September 24th, 2012
  • Updated Tuesday, November 14th, 2023 at 12:02AM
  • ID: 3958

This visualization shows OSCAR (Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time) ocean currents colored by current velocities. OSCAR data (produced by Earth & Space Research and distributed through NOAA and PO.DAAC) is derived from observed satellite altimetry and wind vector data. The visualization runs from January 1, 2008 through July 27, 2012. Blues are slow currents, greens currents are about 0.5 meters per second, and red currents are about 1 meter per second. This visualization was rendered in a variety of sizes from standard 1080p HD to 4k to 6840x3420. The higher resolution versions were rendered for very high resolution display technologies such as hyperwalls and cinema projectors.

For more information about the NOAA/NASA OSCAR projects, click here.

These visualizations were developed, in part, for display at the "20 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry" Symposium in Venice, Italy in September 2012 and for the Fall 2012 American Geophysical Union conference in December 2012.

OSCAR ocean flow data colored by velocity (with dates and color bar)
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.

OSCAR ocean flows colored by velocity (without dates or color bar)

Color bar for OSCAR Ocean Currents (blue=slow, green=about 0.5 meters/second, red=about 1 meter per second)

Color bar for OSCAR Ocean Currents (blue=slow, green=about 0.5 meters/second, red=about 1 meter per second)

A cropped region in the Pacific illustrating the distribution of the actual flow vector data points relative to the flow curves. The white dots represent locations where the OSCAR model defines the ocean current directions. Locations in between are interpolated.

A cropped region in the Pacific illustrating the distribution of the actual flow vector data points relative to the flow curves. The white dots represent locations where the OSCAR model defines the ocean current directions. Locations in between are interpolated.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Datasets used in this visualization

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