Ocean Models Help Swimmer Navigate Florida Straits

摘要

Many endurance swimmers have an eye on the treacherous, tantalizing waters between Cuba and Florida. Australian swimmer Chloe McCardel's 12 June attempt to cross the Florida Straits was not the first-but she had a secret weapon: oceanography. In 2012, University of Miami meteorologist Villy Kourafalou heard about a previous swimmer's unsuccessful attempt to be the first woman to swim the 170-kilometer distance unaided. Penny Palfrey's problem was clear, Kourafalou says: She was thwarted by shifting swirls, called eddies, spawned by the Florida current as it flows through the straits.