EDDY EDIBLES: This NASA satellite image shows a 150-kilometer-wide, deep-water eddy (blue) 800 miles south of Africa, made visible by its planktonic bloom. NASA
O.R. Godø et al., “Mesoscale eddies are oases for higher trophic marine life,” PLoS ONE, 7:e30161, 2012.
On a voyage home from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Olav Godø, of the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway, changed the settings of the research boat’s acoustic instruments. Upon analyzing the collected data back home, the team verified that their instruments had captured what looked like several mesoscale eddies—enormous whirlpools 80–150 kilometers wide. In this and a 2009 follow-up study of a 50-km eddy, they were able for the first time to document fish feeding all along the eddies’ depth.
Using a slower ping rate to probe deeper waters, in addition to satellite imagery to confirm the size and location of the eddy, the researchers sampled waters at ...
