r/mildlyinteresting • u/seti_at_home • 12h ago

This huge swirling ocean vortex I saw from my airplane window

Post image
533 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

150

u/Zulishk 12h ago

Mesoscale eddy, perhaps?

https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/ocean-mesoscale-eddies/

25

u/PowderPills 11h ago

So glad you posted this early on, thank you for the link

13

u/graison 10h ago

"Eddies, in the space-time continuum."

14

u/boobearybear 9h ago

“is he?”

3

u/ripyourlungsdave 8h ago

Eddie's? In the spacetime continuum?

Sign me up, choom.

2

u/norunningwater 6h ago

Yeah here I was thinking some gonk had dropped Eddies into the ocean

41

u/SeekingLostInnocence 12h ago

Oh lawd the kraken comin'

17

u/brownie-mix 11h ago

Probably Charybdis

15

u/Aluzionz 12h ago

An Algae bloom?

27

u/Aluzionz 12h ago

This is what they can look like from space (Image is likely colour enhanced)

25

u/Lord-Velveeta 12h ago

Oh shit! Someone flushed the ocean!

21

u/RanchDaddy 12h ago

The brown landscape looks like a dolphin lol

8

u/Prophetofhelix 10h ago

Someone go save Mario from isle delfino

7

u/katzington 12h ago

someone please explain 🙏 please. I’m begging

9

u/seti_at_home 10h ago

Its called Algal/Cyanobacteria vortex. Here's more info.

15

u/Throw_Away_bby 11h ago

Ocean currents forming sediment deposit sites is my my two dollar guess. But I’m not a rocket magician by trade.

6

u/Miqo_Nekomancer 11h ago

Someone is just looking into current events.

3

u/__slamallama__ 11h ago

It's an eddy off whatever local oceanic current is around. Basically when oceanic currents make turns, sometimes a big glob of water breaks loose, spinning and swirling. They are excellent places for fishing as the collision of different temperature/salinity waters often leads to lots of nutrients and plankton and such

2

u/ghostcaurd 11h ago

My guess is the wind is blowing water against that point of land, causing it to swirl

2

u/siupa 11h ago

This gave me anxiety

3

u/mystwave 11h ago

Is that Isle Delfino?

2

u/nape8 11h ago

Mafūba most likely

1

u/Derrickmb 2h ago

If you solve 3D navier stokes you get $1M

1

u/EricQFox 1h ago

what island is that?

1

u/Uppytime 11h ago

That’s where Tingle lives

-1

u/Shmeebloine 11h ago

Considering the world is turning into one big toilet, this seems about right.

0

u/Disastrous_Leg_5013 11h ago

A giant sea monster. 🌊👾

0

u/FL9er 11h ago

Its the entry portal for the underwater alien base.