OCEAN · LIVE CURRENTS — HOURLY

Live Currents — Hourly

The full surface current of the whole ocean, updated every hour — not just the slow geostrophic flow set by the sea-surface slopes, but the TOTAL current including the faster, wind-driven motion in the top of the sea, at the finest resolution on this canvas and drawn with direction arrows. From a global ocean physics model that blends satellites, floats and physics into a best estimate of how the surface water is actually moving right now. The freshest and most detailed of the three current views here: the OSCAR particles are built for the sense of motion, the daily Geostrophic layer is the precise altimetry-measured flow, and this is the full hourly modelled current — the layer to watch for how a spill might drift or how a storm is stirring the surface today. Updated hourly.