A system of ocean currents circulates prodigious ribbons of warm and stale water around the earth , create mood pattern and facilitate the productive marine ecosystems that feed millions by distributing nutrient necessary to jump the food chain . It would not be a stint to say thatocean currents , which are driven by the planet ’s movement and difference in pee temperature and brininess , are all-important to life on Earth as we know it .
So , given the magnitude of their importance – and our 300 - plus - yearhistory of mapping them – it ’s a bite surprising that we humanity had been overlook one .
A new current flowing southwards along the southwest coast of Madagascar has just been described by a team of French , Malagasy , and South African research worker after they apparently find out it by accident .
According toLive Science , the oceanographer were review the waters of the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and mainland Africa when they noted a curious flow of water . After analyzing the area using advance satellite imagery , they find out that the movement could not be calculate for by know currents .
An initial psychoanalysis of the pertly named Southwest Madagascar Coastal Current ( SMACC ) , published inGeophysical Research Letters , estimates the warm water flow is less than 300 meters ( 984 feet ) deep and less than 100 kilometer ( 62 geographical mile ) wide – quite diminutive compared to goliaths like theAntarctic Circumpolar CurrentorPacific Equatorial flow .
Driven by the force of Southern Hemisphere trade winds licking at the ocean ’s surface , the SMACC contributes to thecoastal upwellingalong southern Madagascar ( alongside the East Madagascar Current ) thatsupports a species - rich habitat .
At its terminus , the H2O flows into theAgulhas Current , a major weewee shipping path that travels south along the seacoast of southeast Africa before performing a hairpin turn and moving due east , forming the limit between the Indian and Southern Oceans .
Due to the wide - ranging impacts of sea current on both animation and non - surviving system , the investigator know that their work will soon be followed by investigation into the SMACC ’s hand in weather radiation pattern and global ecosystem . Computer - free-base models of how the SMACC may be dissemble by climate change will also help scientists focused on climate mitigation .
“ As such , the Southwest Madagascar Coastal Current has cardinal conditional relation for study about the greater Agulhas Current system , remote connections between oceanographic systems , [ processes underlie ] upwelling system , fisheries management , local livelihoods , and so forward , ” the team wrote .
“ The uncovering of the SMACC has significant implications for the improved extensive agreement of sea system of rules around the reality . ”
[ H / T : Live Science ]
