Photos show what looks like a line between the Atlantic and Pacific with different water colors on either side, but is there some kind of barrier or do the two oceans mix?
A handful of videos on YouTube and TikTok have been racking up likes by showing a strange line in the ocean, with dark water on one side and light water on the other.
Imagine watching a spiral of cream dissolve into coffee: The liquids mix, but slowly. That's approximately what's happening in pictures that show a line between different ocean waters. On one side, the water may be saltier, cleaner or colder; it takes time to average out those differences. In the open ocean between South America and Antarctica, the boundary between the Pacific and the Atlantic is famously choppy; the Drake Passage is known for waves that can reach 60 feet tall."That improves the mix," Ramírez said.
In the middle layer, away from both the surface and the seafloor, the waters mix more slowly because there is less turbulence. A strong current around Antarctica's Southern Ocean pulls water clockwise through the Drake Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It also pulls water from the world's ocean basins,"and then reinjects it," de Lavergne said. Another current moves water from the Pacific through the Indian Ocean and around the tip of South Africa to feed the Atlantic from the other direction.
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