Featured Image Credit: Hidabrut.com
A video from the Gulf of Alaska that recently surfaced has many people scratching their head. It shows a strange natural phenomena that occurs when heavy water filled with sedements from glacial valleys and rivers pours into the open ocean. In the Gulf of Alaska, these two types of water run in to each other and it is an amazing sight to see where light, electric blue merges with a darker slate-blue.
It is a place that has been dubbed “where two oceans meet but don’t mix,” and photos of it have been circulating the internet for years. This time it has been captured on video. While many think this is two oceans bouncing off of each other like oil and vinegar, it is actually falsehood to think that the two waters don’t mix up at all.
1. It’s not two oceans meeting, its glacial melt water meeting the off shore waters of Gulf of Alaska.
2. The reason for this strange phenomenon is due to the difference of water density, temperature and salinity of the glacial melt water and off shore waters of Gulf of Alaska, making it difficult to mix.
3. Horizontal stratification of water is common , however the above phenomenon shows vertical stratification.
4. The waters do eventually mix, the borders between these two water bodies is not static, they move around and disappear altogether.