Information on the subject:
I thought this was the most unusual thing I saw on the Alaskan cruise
in the water. These two bodies of water were merging in the middle of
the Alaskan gulf and there was a foam developing only at their
junction.
I thought this was an example of a Halocline described on Wikipedia. A few people have commented that a Halocline is more of a horizontal phenomenon and this is more vertically oriented.
I am pretty confident that what you are seeing is a result of the melting glaciers being composed of fresh water and the ocean has a higher percentage of salt causing the two bodies of water to have different densities and therefore makes it more difficult to mix. I'm told they will eventually mix given enough time.
People have asked me if I just happened to look out over the edge of the ship deck and see this. Actually I had been on the deck for quite some time when I noticed what appeared to be a shadow cast by clouds over the ocean about 5 miles in front of the ship. As we approached the shadow I realized it was something different. I took many shots up to the point I shot this one, but never posted them until a year after this image went viral. I really posted them to convince people I did not Photoshop this image. See the other shots here.
Information on the photograph and high view count:
On January 20, 2011, this image was viewed 71,000 times in one day.
That is more times than all my other photos, sets, collections, and
photostream for the last 18 months and even on that date this photo
was not even registered as my most interesting according to Flickr.
You can see them here in my other most interesting photos according to Flickr.
On September 20, 2011, this image went through another viral surge and was viewed 177,456 times that one day, almost 50% of the total number of views it had seen since I first posted it. The following day it only saw 98,285 views. And by the 3rd day it was back to it's prior daily view level of about 500-1000 views per day.
On September 22, 2011, I was asked by Yahoo News if they could use the photo on their images of the week pages. news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-week-of-june-3-1307133161...
If you want to read about this amazing high view count phenomenon see this link with the details.
The original site to start all the craziness was Tumblr and as of Jan 22, 2011, the number of comments on Tumblr alone was over 6,400. On March 7, 2011 Tumblr recorded 24,546 likes, comments, and rebloggs. As of Dec 23, 2011 16:00 the Tumblr notes were over 58,000 and climbing about 75 per minute.
The interestingness finally changed and on Jan 22, 2011 this photo was up to #23 in my photostream. As of February 13, 2011, it is up to #20. You can view all of them with a black background and they look much more impressive. As of February 12, 2011, it hit 100,000. On April 2 it hit 200,000 views with 352 favorites and 3 galleries.
In April 2012, the image reached 750,000 views and reached 1,000 favorites. On August 30, 2012 it hit 800,000 with 1,085 favorites and 10 gallery entries.
The AlaskaDispatch ran an article by Ben Anderson on February 5, 2013, discussing this phenomenon and linked back to this page referencing the large number of views it has seen. You can read Ben's article here.
Image Filename Coincidence?
My Canon camera automatically names the images I shoot and advanced
the numbers sequentially from 0000 to 9999. I find it quite
interesting that this particular image is number 0666. I did not
modify it.
IMG_0666-b
RikiTikiTembo, *Steffolisch, and 1197 other people added this photo to their favorites.
View 20 more comments
ystenes 8 months ago | reply
Seen in:
Your Art has touched the World!
Post 1, and award 5
msc-photodesign 8 months ago | reply
Seen in:
Your Art has touched the World!
Post 1, and award 5
Jinzykielle^^ 8 months ago | reply
Notice the face-like image of the clouds?? Its I mean somewhat like a head of a bird or somethin' coz of the beak-like shape... It's great!!!
TarunKumarBhattacharya 8 months ago | reply
amazing..!
aadhilnet 8 months ago | reply
"He has let loosed the two seas (the salt water and the sweet) meeting together. Between them is a barrier which they cannot pass." [Quran 55:19-20]
Ref: www.khilafatworld.com/2012/11/picture-perfect-merging-oce...
toxygen_inhalation@yahoo.com 7 months ago | reply
You are right about the difference in salt contents that separate the two bodies of water, but I've seen this off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Not a lot of glaciers down there. I've seen it as close as 50 miles from shore and I've been out 100 miles before and never hit blue water.
alessandro nicomedi 6 months ago | reply
:)))))))
© the-best-is-yet-to-come © 6 months ago | reply
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Rahman2040 6 months ago | reply
the Holy Quran (QS-Ar-Rahman: 19-20) as follows :
He let the two seas flow, both the meet, (but) between them, there is a limit which can not be passed by each.
the Holy Quran (QS-Al-Furqan: 53) as follows :
He (Allah) let the two seas (adjoining), who is fresh fresh again and the other salty more bitter, and He made between them and the walls that impede the limit. "
Amazingly The Holy Quran was revealed 1400 years ago !!!
Source
miracle-of-islam.blogspot.in/2009/02/fresh-air-tawar-in-o...
scorpio1641 5 months ago | reply
I saw this being passed around on twitter, went to google to research this phenomenon and got led back to you :) Kudos on the great pic :)
ebaa7 5 months ago | reply
this thing has been written in Quran (( the holy book of Muslims)) since 1400 years
VIdaU. 4 months ago | reply
ok, someone posted on facebook this photo with explanation that it's Baltic and North sea merging together....????
kentsmith9 4 months ago | reply
VidaU, somehow some time ago someone took my image and posted it to a few places claiming it was from the North Baltic area. This image was definitely shot in the Gulf of Alaska and you can see the other shots I also took leading up to and just after crossing this area. www.flickr.com/photos/kentsmith9/6602530369/in/photostream/
fchamieh 4 months ago | reply
This spectacular scene was described in the Holy Book of Quran, which was recited by Muhammad, the messenger of God (Allah), 1430 years ago. Muhammad, peace be upon him was raised in the Arabian desert and could not see Alaska and did not travel the oceans!
In arabic it says:
مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ (19) بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ (20)
Translated to English:
19. He merged the two seas, converging together.
20. Between them is a barrier, which they do not overrun.
jensvins 4 months ago | reply
890,880 views and 211 comments, huh.
Personally, when I see something interesting, I like to stop by and say,
"Hey man, that is very interesting, thanks for sharing!"
In this case I say it on behalf of the 890,669 silent ones too :-)
cirko 3 months ago | reply
Your images can also be found in the web under the topic "Skagen (Denmark) - where North Sea and Baltic Sea meet". That's funny 'cause on most pictures the Alaskan mountains can nicely be seen, whereas Denmark is as flat as a pancake.
(e.g. Skagen Is The Northernmost Point Of Denmark...)
Great pictures BTW
Bahmad17 3 months ago | reply
Thank you for taking and posting this pic, finally a solid manifest of what we read in Quran about this phenomena :)
"He (Allah) let the two sees adjoin,
Between them is a barrier, which they don't overrun"
medalit.com 6 weeks ago | reply
All phenomena are due to the infinite balance of the universe. It is all balanced, it can't be but the way it is. Needless to say we have to seek a scientific explanation (Although in this case may not appear very obvious but it is and can be easily Googled), however I want to mention here the two instances on which this phenomenon appears in the Quran: (what follows are the translations) the first is in chapter 25 verse 53 : "And it is He (Almighty God) who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier and prohibiting partition." the original text is: "وَهُوَ الَّذِي مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ هَٰذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ وَهَٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخًا وَحِجْرًا مَّحْجُورًا". The second is: chapter 53 verses 19,20, and 21: "(19) He released the two seas, meeting [side by side];
( 20 ) Between them is a barrier [so] neither of them transgresses.
( 21 ) So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?" the original text is: "مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ، بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ، فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ " . Now I leave it upto you to contemplate those verses.
MohammdSajjad Mohammadiuoon 6 weeks ago | reply
That's just intriguingly awesome!!!
Quran (Muslims holly book) said it in 1450 years ago (before Americas be Discovered)
holly Quran ([55:19&20]) :
He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together. Between them is a Barrier which they do not transgress.
[35:12]:
Nor are the two bodies of flowing water alike,- the one palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, and the other, salt and bitter. Yet from each (kind of water) do ye eat flesh fresh (fish) and tender, and ye extract ornaments to wear; and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the Bounty of Allah that ye may be grateful.
[25:53]:
It is He Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed.
www.flickr.com/photos/kentsmith9/4955772693/
chi4404 6 weeks ago | reply
This is not two oceans, just one: the Northern Pacific and a large body of water which comes from the glacier rivers of Alaska. These rivers contain high iron glacier sediment thus iron too. The two types of water can not merge because of the iron level of the one which comes from the rivers but eventually they WILL merge it just takes a little time. All the info you need about this is here:
www.alaskadispatch.com/article/mythbusting-place-where-tw...