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A Mighty Current

November 3, 2018

The cool waters of the Equatorial Undercurrent flow east across the Central Pacific Ocean. After traveling thousands of miles, the current runs into into the Galápagos Islands about 500 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Its force drives deep nutrient-rich waters up, helping to support the islands’ unique ecosystem. MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Julie Jakobski used ocean gliders to track the Equatorial Undercurrent and the nutrients it carries, working with WHOI physical oceanographers Robert Todd and Breck Owens, climate scientist Kris Karnauskas of the University of Colorado-Boulder, and physical oceanographer Dan Rudnick of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. (Photo by Eric S. Taylor, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)