When you look at Earth from space, it looks like a big blue marble. But if you zoom in, most of that marble is in motion. Our planet’s oceans aren’t just moving in tidal waves, but in layers of currents beneath the ocean’s surface that we can’t see.

Only now we can see them, or at least a visualization of them based on NASA data. And not only is it educational, but it’s artistically beautiful as well.

Check out the Vincent van Gogh-esque visual of Earth’s “underwater highways” and enjoy seeing our world in a whole new way:

Watching the Earth’s ocean currents move

NASA used a model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, or ECCO, to create the visualization. Senior research scientist Josh Willis explains what we’re looking at as the white and blue swirls move around the planet:

“All of this movement starts with physics. Because the Earth is spinning, the water feels something called the Coriolis effect. This pushes some of the strongest currents, like the Gulf Stream and the East Australian Current, against the east side of the continents. Because these currents wind up on the west side of........

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