Deep Ocean Current Found Near Kerguelen Plateau
Scientists have discovered a deep ocean current with a volume equivalent to 40 Amazon Rivers near the Kerguelen plateau, in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean. Writing in Nature Geoscience, the researchers say the current – more than three kilometers below the Ocean's surface – is an important pathway in a global network of ocean currents that influence climate patterns. While earlier expeditions had detected evidence of the current system, they were not able to determine how much water the current carried. The new experiment deployed current-meter moorings anchored to the sea floor at depths of up to 4500m. Each mooring reached from the sea floor to a depth of 1000m and measured current speed, temperature and salinity for a two-year period. read more