How does the East Australian Current function?
The East Australian Current sweeps warm water down the east coast of Australia. Like the Gulf Stream, the East Australia Current is pushed to the western edge of the ocean by the rotation of the Earth.
Do turtles actually ride the EAC?
New research has revealed that the EAC plays a critical role in transporting turtles between habitats across the southern Pacific Ocean.
What is the effect of the East Australian Current?
The EAC brings warm, although nutrient poor, water down Australia’s east coast allowing striped marlin to be caught in autumn months at 36°S, off Montague Island. It also enables the seasonal movement of fish, such as young black marlin down the Queensland coast.
Why is the East Australian Current warm?
As it skirts along the east coast of Australia, it carries a large amount of warm tropical water from the Equator southward. This contributes to the conditions which allow the Great Barrier Reef to thrive, keeping the east coast around 18 °C year round instead of dropping to 12 °C in the winter.
Can you ride the EAC?
EAC transports more than 40 million cubic meters of water each second. As for fish “riding” the EAC the way they do in the movie, some scientists say they have seen tropical fish “hitching a ride” on the current, though it is not quite as fast as it appears in the movie.
What other species migrate using the EAC?
The EAC. The East Australian current (the famous “EAC” used by migrating turtles in the movie Finding Nemo) brings warm water from off Queensland down the New South Wales coast to Tasmania. Similar currents also exist off southwestern Australia, Japan, the eastern United States, southeastern Africa and southern Brazil.
How strong is the EAC?
Speeds in the core of the EAC are among the strongest in the South Pacific, up to 7km an hour. The movie would have you think that the East Australian Current is a narrow jet that you can jump in and out of as your thrill-seeking self desires.
How far offshore is the East Australian Current?
The core of the EAC is about 100 nm offshore at Sydney’s latitude but comes much closer to the coast at 35 S where a big lobe, or retroflection, carrying 23 to 25 °C water, curves from the southwest to the south and then into the east-northeast.
How far offshore is the EAC?
Which way does the East Australian Current Flow?
southward
The East Australian Current does flow along the East coast of Australia, obviously. And it does flow southward from the Great Barrier Reef. Speeds in the core of the EAC are among the strongest in the South Pacific, up to 7km an hour.
Is the East Australian Current a surface current?
East Australian Current, surface oceanic current, a section of the counterclockwise flow in the Tasman Sea, southwestern Pacific Ocean.
What is the east Australian current?
What is it? The East Australian Current, made famous by the Disney movie Finding Nemo, is a large scale flow of water that runs south along the east coast of Australia. It sweeps warm tropical waters from the Coral Sea southwards to interact with the cool temperate waters of the Tasman Sea.
How does the east Australian east coast circulation work?
The prevailing winds of the South Pacific Ocean create an anti-clockwise circulation of water with the assistance of the Coriolis effect (the rotation of the Earth). The EAC is created by the water that flows toward the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The current then wanders south along the east coast of Australia.
How does the east Australia current affect the ocean?
Like the Gulf Stream, the East Australia Current is pushed to the western edge of the ocean by the rotation of the Earth. The current carries nutrient-poor water from the Coral Sea into the cool waters of the Tasman Sea, spinning off into eddies as it does.
What is the function of the East Auckland Current?
The eastward movement of the EAC through the Tasman Front and reattaching to the coastline of New Zealand forms the East Auckland Current. The EAC also acts to transport tropical marine fauna to habitats in sub-tropical regions along the south east Australian coast.