NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has garnered lots of media attention for the successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars earlier this week. However, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is involved in many other projects in addition to the Curiosity mission to Mars, including many that deal with space and that directly impact the world’s ocean. One such undertaking is an ambitious project jointly overseen by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The joint project is called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO). Using advanced mathematical tools and satellite images, the ground-breaking research initiative seeks to figure out how ocean currents evolve over time.
The scientific applications of the model systems being used in the ECCO project are numerous.…