State and Trends of Australia’s Ocean Report: Variability in ocean currents around Australia

Ocean currents also have a strong influence on marine ecosystems, through the transport of heat, nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton and larvae of most marine animals. We used geostrophic currents derived satellite altimetry measurements between 1993 and 2019 to examine the Kinetic Energy (KE, measure of current intensity) and Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE, variability of the currents relative to a mean) around Australia. The East Australian (EAC) and Leeuwin (LC) current systems along the east and west coasts demonstrated strong seasonal and inter-annual variability linked to El Niño and La Niña events. The variability in the LC system was larger than for the EAC. All major boundary currents around Australia were enhanced during the 2011 La Niña event.