Friday, August 23, 2013

Greenland Picture Puzzle

This picture was taken around local noon.

I think there are clues as to the following:
- which way the current is flowing
- which way I am looking
- which way the wind was blowing

Can you spot them?

Bonus marks for what sort of current it was.

14 comments:

Tillerman said...

1. Current running north to south.
2. Looking west
3. Wind blowing from west.

It's a cold, low salinity ocean current.

Baydog said...

You took the words right out of my keyboard

JP said...

Wrong, so I'll give a hint.

Not everything that looks like shadow is a shadow.

Tillerman said...

Oh yeah. There are little shadows going the other way. So what are the dark streaks? Saltier water?

JP said...

Getting closer. The dark streaks are slate grey like the sea, the rest of the water is brownish like...

Tillerman said...

I was going to say the streaks were caused by melting ice but there's also a long streak running from the yacht. I suppose we are seeing a place where a river meets the sea? And the river is probably fed by melting glaciers? But I don't really understand the dark streaks.

Tillerman said...

I was going to say the streaks were caused by melting ice but there's also a long streak running from the yacht. I suppose we are seeing a place where a river meets the sea? And the river is probably fed by melting glaciers? But I don't really understand the dark streaks.

Tillerman said...

Unless there is brown stuff coming from left to right on a surface current and it is flowing around the yacht and ice?

JP said...

There was indeed brown water flowing from left to right...

Tillerman said...

So the current is running south to north.
We are looking east.
The wind is blowing from the east.
It's a brown current.

JP said...

1. No (which is odd given others are right)
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes

Tillerman said...

Duh. Current is north to south of course. Left to right.

JP said...

Yes!

It was the things that looked like shadows but weren't that caught my eye as they were pointing towards the sun rather than away.

The water from the left was coming from a river off the glacier that was full of mud hence brown.

Tillerman said...

The fake shadows certainly fooled me!