Oceanography Animations
Compiled by Mark Francek (more info) at Central Michigan University
See animations displaying El Nino/La Nina, plant productivity, cause of upwelling, currents, and tides.
If you have a visualization that would be helpful for teaching about earth science, please contribute to our continually expanding collections.
El Nino/La Nina, Prentice Hall: The Flash animation outlines the steps leading to the formation of the El Nino and La Nina over a ten month time span. The strength of the animation is its ability to view changes between atmospheric pressure conditions and oceanic circulation in both the plan view and cross section. These changes are viewed through three scenarios: normal conditions, El Nino conditions, and La Nina conditions. The animation can be paused and replayed to stress important points.
Plant Productivity in the Ocean, Exploring Earth: Find a Flash animation picturing monthly variations in phytoplankton, the plants that make up the base of the ocean's food chain. Higher concentrations of phytoplankton are rendered in orange and red, lower concentrations in purple and blue. Note the high productivity near the poles and where upwelling zones exist. The animation can be paused and replayed to stress important points.
Cause of Upwelling, Exploring Earth (more info) : This Flash animation delineates, in cross section and plan view, the steps necessary to produce upwelling, a phenomenon important in influencing climate and oceanic productivity. Winds moving along the coast are influenced by the Coriolis effect and push surface water offshore. In response, cold, plankton rich water rises to the surface to replace displaced water. The animation can be paused and replayed to stress important points.
Ocean Currents, Exploring Earth: This site animates cold and warm surface ocean currents. Placing a cursor over the map superimposes surface wind patterns so the correlation between ocean currents and surface winds can be emphasized. While it is true that wind does play a role in the direction of surface currents, temperature and salinity variations also drive ocean currents. Note that currents flowing toward the equator are generally cool and currents flowing away from the equator usually are warm.
Tides, NOAA: This animation points out how the pull of gravity results in the tides. A high tide results on the near side of the Earth-moon alignment. The bulge on the opposite side results as the solid earth is pulled away from water on its far side where the moon's gravitational pull is weakest. These two high tide bulges stay in place as the earth rotates, leading to two high tides and two low tides every day.
North Atlantic Swell Forcast This Living Sea section of the Ocean Channel site includes animations on forcasted ocean swells in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific and South Pacific. The site also includes a wealth of information about oceans.
