Playa Blanca, Costa Rica
Costa Rican Thermal Dome
The Costa Rica Thermal Dome is an open-ocean phenomenon that forms every spring anywhere between 150 and 300 miles off the western coast of Costa Rica.
The dome is located off the western coast of Central America in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Through the interaction of swirling wind and ocean currents a vertical conveyance of cold nutrient waters rises from the deep ocean towards the surface, creating the dome like shape.
The dome is positioned above the Cocos underwater tectonic valley and provides a subaquatic cyclonic current that moves in sync with the above air flows. The Costa Rica Thermal Dome is full of biodiversity and many forms of marine life. The nutrient hotspot consists of all types of animals ranging from zoo-plankton to the blue whale.
