GOFLOW is an AI system that reconstructs ocean currents directly from satellite images.
The technology:
reveals small-scale currents that were previously invisible
offers scientists a powerful new tool to improve climate models & better understand how the oceans regulate Earth's climate.
The world's oceans may appear calm from space, but beneath the surface, an intricate web of fast-moving currents drives Earth's climate. Now, a new study led by Tel Aviv University has unveiled a breakthrough that allows scientists to observe these hidden motions with unprecedented clarity.
The researchers developed GOFLOW, an artificial intelligence-powered system that can reconstruct high-resolution ocean current patterns directly from satellite images. The technology provides scientists with an entirely new way to study the small-scale ocean dynamics that influence weather, climate change, and the exchange of heat and gases between the ocean and atmosphere.
The study was led by Professor Roy Barkan, a physical oceanographer and fluid dynamics expert in Tel Aviv University's Department of Geophysics at the Faculty of Exact Sciences. The research was conducted in collaboration with scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCLA, and the University of Rhode Island, and published in Nature Geoscience.
A New Window into the Ocean
Covering more than 70 percent of Earth's surface, the oceans are the planet's largest climate regulator. Powerful currents such as the Gulf Stream transport enormous amounts of heat, carbon, and energy across the globe. Yet many of the most important processes occur at scales of just a few dozen kilometers or less, making them virtually invisible to existing satellite observation techniques.
"The ocean is one of the most important components of Earth's climate system, yet many of the processes that drive it occur on spatial and temporal scales that are extremely difficult to measure directly," Professor Roy Barkan explains.
"With GOFLOW, we can now extract dynamic information from satellite observations that was previously inaccessible, revealing mechanisms that govern ocean mixing, heat transport, and gas exchange with the atmosphere. As climate change accelerates, being able to observe these fine-scale processes is essential for understanding the much bigger picture."
Trained on cutting-edge ocean simulations, the AI system analyzes sequences of infrared satellite images that capture sea surface temperatures and uses them to reconstruct the horizontal movement of ocean waters. Unlike previous approaches, which relied on simplified physical assumptions, GOFLOW can detect subtle, highly complex flow patterns that had previously gone unseen.
Using the system, researchers identified remarkably dynamic processes occurring at scales smaller than 30 kilometers within the Gulf Stream. These fine-scale features are associated with sharp temperature gradients, converging currents, and vertical water movement-mechanisms that drive the mixing of ocean waters and regulate the transfer of heat and gases between the sea and the atmosphere.
Improving Climate Predictions
The system also delivers something that has long eluded oceanographers: the first direct satellite-based measurements of horizontal ocean divergence, a key indicator of vertical water movement. Until now, researchers could estimate this only through computer simulations or limited in situ observations.
These newly observable processes are more than scientific curiosities-they play a crucial role in Earth's climate system. Ocean mixing influences storm intensity, marine heatwaves, pollutant dispersal, and the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
