Massive whirlpool in front of the coast of South Africa

Massive whirlpool known as eddies, in front of the coast of South Africa
Never known that whirlpools like this could grow that massive if you look at the size of this thing it could almost swallow a complete country , I hope I never run into this size of this kind whirlpool,when I'm enjoying my cruise trip!
Is it even possible to escape whirlpools the size like this, if you're pulled into it ?

he ocean has storms and weather that rival the size and scale of tropical cyclones.
These storm are better known as eddies.
They are huge masses of water spinning in a whirlpool pattern—either clockwise or counterclockwise—and they can stretch for hundreds of kilometers.
Eddies often spin off from major ocean current systems and can last for months.
Eddies can be productive. As certain types of eddies stir the ocean, they draw nutrients up from the deep, fertilizing the waters to create blooms of microscopic marine plants in the open ocean, where little life was once thought to exist.
As these water masses stir the ocean, they draw nutrients up from the deep, fertilizing the surface waters to create blooms of microscopic, plant-like organisms in the open ocean, which is relatively barren compared to coastal waters.

Can imagine that whales and other sea creatures could benefit from these whirlpools in search of food?



NASA LANCE
NASA Lance full picture

less credible source where this article came from, The watchers

WOW! And this my friends, is why you'll never see me on a boat.

This thing is huuge! thanks for sharing!

reply to post by 0bserver1


Thanks for posting this.

So much for this song.....

reply to post by 0bserver1


WOW that is HUUUUGE it could swallow islands whole!

reply to post by Afterthought

Can Imagine that if you flew right over it one could see the bottom of the ocean...?

reply to post by 0bserver1


That would be fascinating to see!
Considering the extensive technology of our satellites today and how they can read the date on a dime lying on the ground, I wonder if the satellite can zoom into the very center of the vortex and photograph it several times?

I feel bad for any ocean mammals that get caught in that thing.

It's not a whirlpool, it is a Phytoplankton bloom.

One of the OP sources says this...

09:10 UTC
Phytoplankton bloom off South Africa

Satellite: Terra

lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov...

This is an eddy. There is no "drain" at the bottom of the ocean sucking ships down. It is the result of the convergence of different currents. No DOOM here.

Cool pic though.


Too slow, apparently a bloom of some plankton. . .yummy!

This isnt a whirpool or a drain. It a phytoplankton bloom. You even said yourself, the quote you used came for the less reliable source. So why not go with NASA's explanation

Phytoplankton blooms often look like whirpools: Tasmanian Bloom

reply to post by 0bserver1


Its not a 'whirlpool' reread the article it is a turning current, there is no 'hole' or spout in the middle, you would sail right over it and not notice.

The glow is caused by bio-luminescence from a phytoplankton bloom.

reply to post by Chadwickus


Yeah but are they not surface by this whirlpool ?

Honestly, folks. I was trying to be funny when I compared this to a drain.
I'm not that smart on Monday mornings, but I'm not that stupid on even my worst days.

To be exact, there is a "whirlpool" effect going on here, as cold and warm currents collide the phytoplankton becomes visible...

earthdata.nasa.gov...

Wow, that thing is 150 kilometres wide!

reply to post by 0bserver1



Um..it's plankton...

ANYWAY!!!

Still cool pic!

Either way, whirlpool or plankton. Totally cool, and huge!!!
Maybe this is where all the blue whales go???

Thanks for posting!

From wiki:

A maelstrom /ˈmeɪlstrɒm/ is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. A free vortex, it has considerable downdraft. The power of tidal whirlpools tends to be exaggerated by laymen.[1] There are virtually no stories of large ships ever being sucked into a maelstrom, although smaller craft are in danger [2] and tsunami generated maelstroms may even threaten larger crafts. Tales like those by Paul the Deacon, Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe are entirely fictional.

Here is a true whirlpool, created by the japanese earthquake/tsunami.

here is a video clip of the world's largest normal whirlpool.

It is called "Saltstraumen" and is in Norway

reply to post by Chadwickus

The ocean's tides are caused primarily by the moon and, to a lesser extent, by the sun. As the tides rise and fall, the ocean's water is stirred.
But as you know from playing in the surf at the beach, the winds are another potent factor in stirring the sea. Everywhere on Earth, the winds blow across the ocean's surface, sometimes softly, sometimes with violent atmospheric storms such as in hurricanes.
The winds stir the water, like when you blow across a cup of coffee to which you just added cream. But the winds are not powerful enough to mix the ocean all the way down.

The ocean is simply too deep. How deep can the winds stir the sea into a uniform layer? The depth of intense mixing by the wind is called the mixed layer. On average, the mixed layer is about 100 meters in depth. It gets deeper when the winds are stronger and shallower during weaker winds.

Scientists, of course, want to know the exact relationship and so they study the mathematics of how the depth of the mixed layer varies with wind speed. Very roughly, doubling the speed of the wind doubles the depth of the mixed layer. Because the water within the mixed layer moves up and down during its stirring, tiny creatures that live in the mixed layer also go up and down, in and out of more intense light.

The mixed layer is roughly the same as the layer where light is available to phytoplankton in the ocean. This surface zone has the technical name of pelagic zone. Most of the ocean's living things stay in the pelagic zone; for creatures that do not photosynthesize, feeding on those that do is important, and the photosynthesizes are found in the pelagic zone.

So there is a whirlpool on that spot you see the phytoplankton, And they still not curtain how big these whirlpools can be, But if you see the large amount of phytoplankton forming in this spiral motion, you can almost bet that this whirlpool has to be massive right?

U.S. scientists discovered two giant whirlpools in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Guyana and Suriname. It became a sensational discovery because this part of the ocean has been studied thoroughly, and no one expected anything like that to appear in the area. More importantly, no one can understand where the whirlpools came from and what surprises they may bring to people. According to Brazilian scientist Guilherme Castellane, the two funnels are approximately 400 kilometers in diameter

I mean what do we see here then? I would say these tiny creatures can't create this kind of funnels by them selves right?

reply to post by Arawn73


I know , and they are all swimming real hard to create this funnel...