The Giant Waves Hidden Inside the Ocean

The ocean can look completely calm from the surface while enormous waves move through the water below. These hidden waves can stretch for miles and carry vast amounts of energy through the deep ocean. Known as internal waves, they form within the ocean rather than on its surface, often along boundaries between layers of water with different densities. The Giant Waves Hidden Inside the Ocean explores the strange physics of these underwater giants and their surprising role in Earth's oceans. Unlike ordinary waves, internal waves can travel along the boundary between warmer, less-dense water and colder, denser water below. Some can reach hundreds of meters in vertical height. From above, the surface may show almost no obvious sign that anything enormous is moving beneath it. Internal waves are particularly important near underwater mountains, ridges, continental slopes, and narrow ocean passages. When tides push massive amounts of water across these underwater structures, the resulting disturbances can generate enormous waves deep below the surface. These waves can transport energy and help mix the ocean. That mixing affects temperature, nutrients, marine ecosystems, and even the movement of carbon through the ocean. Internal waves can also matter to submarines and underwater operations because they can create powerful currents and rapidly change conditions at different depths. Scientists study them using satellites, oceanographic instruments, sonar, temperature sensors, and computer models. What makes internal waves so fascinating is that they reveal how little of the ocean we actually see. The surface is only the boundary between the atmosphere and an enormous moving world beneath it. A calm ocean doesn't necessarily mean a calm ocean. Far below the waves we can see, giant walls of water may be traveling through the darkness. The Giant Waves Hidden Inside the Ocean. Start your own podcast today with RSS: https://rss.com/?via=71219c #InternalWaves #OceanScience #DeepOcean #Oceanography #MarineScience #OceanCurrents #UnderwaterWaves #EarthScience #OceanExploration #MarineEcosystems #OceanMixing #DeepSea #ScienceDocumentary #Physics #SoundAroundUs