Scientists Uncover Hidden Water Mass In The Heart Of Atlantic
NDTV
The researchers spotted waters mixing along the equator in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
A previously hidden water mass has been identified in the middle of the Atlantic, offering a new perspective on ocean dynamics. The newly discovered Atlantic Equatorial Water forms along the equator as ocean currents merge distinct water bodies from the north and south, Live Science reported.
The researchers published their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The researchers spotted waters mixing along the equator in the Pacific and Indian oceans.
"It seemed controversial that the equatorial water mass is present in the Pacific and Indian oceans but missing in the Atlantic Ocean because the equatorial circulation and mixing in all three oceans have common features," Viktor Zhurbas, a physicist and oceanologist at The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in Moscow, told Live Science. "The identified new water mass has allowed us to complete (or at least more accurately describe) the phenomenological pattern of basic water masses of the World Ocean."
