Ocean Currents surrounding Australia. The West Australian Current is located where the Leeuwin Current is labeled and flows in the opposite direction to the Leeuwin Current.

The West Australian Current (or the Western Australian Current) is a cool surface current of the Southern Ocean and Southern Indian Ocean.

Track

It starts as the Southern Indian Ocean Current, a part of the larger Antarctic Circumpolar Current (also known as the West Wind Drift[1]). As the current approaches Western Australia, it turns north, parallel to the western coast of Australia, and becomes the West Australian Current.

Effects

The current is mainly seasonal, being weaker in winter and stronger in summer, and is affected by the winds in that area.[2][3][4]

In addition to the West Australian Current flowing on the Western Australian Coast, the Leeuwin Current[5] and Southern Australian Countercurrent, also flow along this coast, with the former flowing in the opposite direction. These three currents together contribute greatly to the rainfall and climate in the southwest region of Western Australia.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sanmartín, Isabel; Wanntorp, Livia; Winkworth, Richard C (2007), West Wind Drift revisited: testing for directional dispersal in the Southern Hemisphere using event-based tree fitting, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, retrieved 8 October 2014
  2. ^ Australia. Dept. of Works; Environmental Resources of Australia (1972), Off-shore current metering west of Garden Island Western Australia : July-September 1972, Environmental Resources of Australia, retrieved 8 October 2014
  3. ^ Andrews, John C (1979), Eddy structure and the west and east Australian currents, Flinders University of South Australia, ISBN 978-0-7258-0129-8
  4. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/09/08/2043133.htm ABC article on currents around Australia
  5. ^ Holloway, Peter E (1995-03-01), "Leeuwin Current observations on the Australian North West Shelf, May-June 1993", Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 42 (3): 285, doi:10.1016/0967-0637(95)00004-p, ISSN 0967-0637
  6. ^ http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Understanding/AustralasianOceanCurrents.aspx Australian Ocean Currents - CSIRO overview
  7. ^ http://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/forecasts/idyoc10.shtml?region=10&forecast=1 BOM indicator of current temperatures
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