Time-Lapse Shows 2,464 Trans-Atlantic Flights Packed Into Less Than 1 Minute

— -- There were 2,464 airplanes that crossed the northern Atlantic Ocean on May 6, 2016, and this video shows all of them.

Flightradar24, a website and mobile app that tracks flights around the world, compressed 24 hours of trans-Atlantic flight-paths into this 30-second clip.

The video begins at about 8 p.m. Eastern time, with a heavy stream of flights heading from the U.S. to Europe. You’ll notice that most of them follow just a few roughly similar paths. These paths are called the North Atlantic Tracks, and they’re designed take advantage of the jet stream, which flows west to east.

As Americans go to sleep and Europeans wake up, eastbound traffic slows down, and a swarm of flights begins in Western Europe. At about 5 a.m. Eastern time, westbound flights pick up steam. These planes travel north or south of the jet stream to avoid flying against it.

At the end of the clip, the cycle begins again, with activity across the pond quieting down and traffic on the U.S. side picking up.