2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – Pressure – Climate Change – Ocean currents and eddies

Researchers: Charitha Pattiaratchi (Author) ,  Emma Flukes (Point of contact) ,  Feng, Ming (Author) ,  Pattiaratchi, Charitha (Author) ,  Pattiaratchi, Charitha B. (Author)
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Brief description The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "Pressures on the marine environment - climate change - ocean currents and eddies". ***A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Ocean Currents and Eddies"*** ---------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION OF PRESSURE Australia’s shelf and coastal environment is largely controlled by the dominant Australian boundary currents including the East Australian Current (EAC), Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) and Leeuwin Current (LC), South Australian Current (SAC), Holloway Current (HC), and Zeehan Current (ZC) (Figure 1). The EAC is the western boundary current system of the South Pacific (Oke et a., 2019 and reference therein). In the Australian region, it redistributes heat and carbon between ocean and atmosphere, and between the tropics and mid-latitudes. The ITF, a major component of the global ocean circulation, moves water from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean (Sprintall et al., 2019 and reference therein). It strongly influences Australian climate and seas off Western Australia. The LC flows southwards off Western Australia redistributing Indian Ocean heat to the mid-latitudes. This differs from the cooler, equatorward flowing currents found along other eastern ocean boundaries. DATA STREAM(S) USED IN EXPERT ASSESSMENT The assessment is based on the results of analysis published in peer reviewed papers. ---------------------------------------- 2021 SOE ASSESSMENT SUMMARY [see attached Expert Assessment for full details] • 2021 • Assessment grade: Very high impact Assessment trend: Deteriorating Confidence grade: Adequate Confidence trend: Deteriorating Comparability: Grade and trends are somewhat comparable to the 2016 assessment. • 2016 • Assessment grade: High impact Assessment trend: Deteriorating Confidence grade: Adequate Confidence trend: Deteriorating ---------------------------------------- CHANGES SINCE 2016 SOE ASSESSMENT We have seen significant marine heatwaves and cold events since 2016. The duration and frequency of these events impact the marine ecosystem and industry.

Lineage Statement: QUALITY OF DATA USED IN THE ASSESSMENT High quality but limited length of time-series.

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Notes Credit
Peer reviews of this assessment were provided by: Amandine Schaeffer (UNSW)

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