In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid
Reynolds Experiment (1883). Osborne Reynolds standing beside his apparatus.
Schlieren photograph showing the thermal convection plume rising from an ordinary candle in still air. The plume is initially laminar, but transition to turbulence occurs in the upper third of the image. The image was made by Gary Settles using a one-meter-diameter schlieren mirror.
Downwind of obstacles, in this case, the Madeira and the Canary Islands off the west African coast, eddies create turbulent patterns called vortex streets.
Cold-core rings are a type of oceanic eddy, which are characterized as unstable, time-dependent swirling, independent "cells" that separate from their respective ocean current and move into water bodi
An image depicting the formation of eddies as a closed off meander and a cold core ring.
The meanders of the gulf stream can form eddies. The image depicts a cold core ring as well as a meander of the gulf stream in the process of forming a cold core ring.
Zooplankton are frequently influenced and displaced by the course of cold core rings.