Ocean currents are one of the driving forces behind our planet’s climate, and according to Japanese and Australian scientists a new current has been discovered in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean.
In a paper published in Nature Geoscience the researchers describe an ocean current, approximately 4,200 kilometres south-west of Perth, Australia, that is the equivalent of 40 Amazon Rivers and exists at more than three kilometres below the Ocean’s surface.
“The current carries dense, oxygen-rich water that sinks near Antarctica to the deep ocean basins further north,” says co-author Dr Steve Rintoul from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC and CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship. “Without this supply of Antarctic water, the deepest levels of the ocean would have little oxygen. (more…)