By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News, San Francisco
The great sweep of water around Planet Earth has been captured from space in greater detail than ever before.
New observations from Europe's Goce gravity mapping satellite have allowed scientists to plot ocean currents with unprecedented precision.
Understanding gravity is fundamental to being able to track the direction and speed of water across the globe.
The data should improve the climate models which need to represent better how oceans move heat around the planet.
Very strongly represented in the new map is the famous Gulf Stream, the most intense of all the currents where water zips along at velocities greater than one metre per second in places.
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more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11867162