1 / 9

Exploring the East Australian Current: Characteristics and Impact

Learn about the East Australian Current (EAC), a warm, deep, fast, and nutrient-poor water current stretching 100km wide and 500km deep, transporting 30 million m3/s. Discover its physical description, eddy formation, Stommel-Coriolis term, Eddies, and the significant impact on the coastline. References included for further reading.

isabellaf
Download Presentation

Exploring the East Australian Current: Characteristics and Impact

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. East Australian Current (the EAC)

  2. Where is it?

  3. EAC Properties • Warm, deep, fast, nutrient poor water • 100 km wide by 500km deep • 30 million m3/s transport! • Well known for eddy formation (can be 200km across!)

  4. Physical Description • Balance of Ekman wind-stress and coastal friction (balance of wind curl and frictional vorticity) • In S.H. : curl + or counterclockwise and friction vorticity – or clockwise • Stommel- Coriolis term varies with latitude, strengthens W. Boundary EAC • Surface EAC also strengthened (some) by deep->shallow shelf

  5. Wind field response drives separation (not New Zealand or bottom topography

  6. Eddies • Geostrophic balance: pressure balances coriolis • Cyclonic clockwise around low-pressure cells and counterclockwise (anticyclonic around high pressure cells) IN S.Hemis!

  7. Upwelling W. coast of Aus doesn’t have wind-driven upwelling • Instead EAC “encroachment” towards coast pushes up isopycnals

  8. References M. Roughan, J.H. Middleton / Continental Shelf Research 22 (2002) 2551–2572 K.R. Ridgway, J.R. Dunn / Progress in Oceanography 56 (2003) 189-222 http://www.cmar.csiro.au/remotesensing/oceancurrents/ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=15366

More Related