The Great Ocean Conveyor

Abstract

A diagram depicting the ocean's "conveyor belt" has been widely adopted as a logo for the Global Change Research Initiative. This diagram (Fig. 1) first appeared as an illustration in an article about the Younger Dryas event that was published in the November 1987 issue of Natural History. It was designed as a cartoon to help the largely lay readership of this magazine to comprehend one of the elements of the deep sea's circulation system. Had I suspected that it would be widely adopted as a logo, I would have tried to "improve" its accuracy. In hindsight such repairs would likely have ruined the diagram both for the readers of Natural History and for use as a logo.