What is the East Australian current ?
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Transcript for What is the East Australian current ?
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East Australia Current
this incredible image gives us a
snapshot of our planet's ocean currents
hard at work moving heat nutrients and
key species all around the globe.
These are surface currents driven by the
friction of trade winds and regional
differences in the density of the sea
water. These huge marine rivers circulate
vast quantities of water around the
globe and in doing so they create the
air you breathe, the rain you drink and
they even regulate the climate of our
planet.
Off the coast of Australia lies a
very special marine River, the East
Australian current . At up to 100
kilometres wide and 500 metres in depth
this oceanic artery moves as much as 30
million cubic meters of water every
second. It flows around 3,000 kilometres
all the way from the Great Barrier Reef
to Tasmania, bringing warm tropical
waters to cold southern seas.
As it's warm waters flow from the
tropics down Australia's East Coast they
influence everything from the climate to
the biology of the whole region.
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Most of the heat that reaches our planet
from the Sun falls on the equatorial
regions and ocean currents like the East
Australian current play a vital role in
distributing that heat to the cooler
parts of the earth. Without ocean
currents the uneven heating of the
planet would render huge swathes of Earth
unliveable. Many temperate zones would
freeze over and the tropics would bake
in searing heat.
Ocean currents are earth's
air-conditioning system, but as our
planet is warmed the extra heat energy
in the atmosphere has been changing the
flow of these marine rivers.
The East
Australian current has been
strengthening carrying more warm water
further south and this is having an
impact all along Australia's East Coast
triggering rapid submarine climate
change as well as changing local weather
patterns.
Wherever it flows the East
Australian current is just one of the
myriad of ocean currents that flow
around our planet powering the
ecosystems that produce the air we
breathe the food we eat even the rain
that fills our dams.
We have just begun to understand how
fragile and complex this life-support
system is and the vital role played by
the creatures of the sea in maintaining
a planet suitable for complex life.
It's now time to use that knowledge to care
for the creatures of the sea so that
they can continue to provide for us.
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English (auto-generated)