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Virtual Floats

Sam Levang, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, uses models to simulate ocean circulation. Into his virtual ocean, he injects “synthetic” floats to see where ocean currents take the floats. Here, synthetic floats were released near Cape Hatteras (yellow star). These three panels show the trajectories and locations of the floats after one month, one year, and ten years. The complexity of the ocean’s currents causes these floats to spread apart rapidly. The details of this spreading are important to predict the ocean’s response to climate change. Colors indicate the depth of the floats, with red trajectories near the surface and blue ones in deeper waters. (Illustration courtesy of Sam Levang, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)