Whirlpool in a Jar

Postdoctoral investigator Jean-Baptiste Gilet (right) points to a vortex, a small whirlpool that’s similar to a tornado in air, that was created in a container of colored water in scientist Claudia Cenedese‘s laboratory. In May 2013 Cenedese held a week-long laboratory open house and invited students, the public, and WHOI staff to tour the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Visitors, including WHOI engineer Chris Lumping (far left) and guest investigator Dr. Pedro Vélez-Belchí (Centro Oceanográfico de Canarias, Canary Islands), viewed demonstrations of how water flows and circulates in the lab and in the oceans. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)