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It is generally well-known that inflows of so called healthy water into the Baltic have a good effect on the ecosystem and living organisms. This is also the oceanographic process that generates the most interest.

So far the oceans have absorbed almost half of human carbon dioxide emissions. If the oceans’ absorption had not increased over the last 100 years then today’s atmospheric levels would be about 460 ppm instead of the measured 410 ppm. But now the absorption capacity seems to be decreasing.

The world’s oceans are important for storage of moisture and heat. It is therefore of great significance that this heat is also transported by currents in the large oceans, mainly the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio Stream.

The Research vessel R/V Argos is owned by the Swedish Board of Fisheries and is Sweden’s largest and only ocean-going research vessel. Argos plays a central role in oceanographic research and scientific fish-related investigations.

The following photograph and description was received from Kjell Lundberg who was out at sea and observed an unusual phenomenon in the fog.

The highest observed wave in the Baltic is 14 m between crest and trough. The Finnish Institute for Marine Research registered this wave off southern Åland on 22 December 2004. The significant wave height at this time was 7.7 m. The highest wave registered off the Swedish coast is 13.0 m, again …

The rotation of the earth controls the dominant wind direction in the tropics from east to west, which in turn leads the tropical ocean currents westward. But here and there, occasionally, they mysteriously move in the opposite direction – directly eastwards.

The El Niño phenomenon is a warming of the surface water in the eastern parts of the tropical Pacific. The opposite, La Niña, is instead a cooling of the area. The phenomenon occurs in the exchange between the atmosphere and the sea, and affects the Earth’s weather conditions in several ways.

Friction dampens the movement of air and water, and this creates interesting and important water movement systems, such as the Ekman spirals, discovered in 1905.