[youtube=http://youtu.be/xusdWPuWAoU&w=700] View this at 1080 and full screen if you can.
This visualisation shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 to Decemeber 2007. The goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.
It was produced using NASA/JPL's computational model, Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2. ECCO2 is a high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice. ECCO2 attempts to model the oceans and sea ice to increasingly accurate resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans. The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualisation.
The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x.
My favourite bit is the equator at around 1.39.
"The oceans thru the eyes of Van Gogh", says one viewer.
credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio