Massive heated whirlpools that occur off the Australian coast are the focus of a fascinating new multimillion-dollar mission.
The recent far-flung adventures of Australia’s flagship research vessel include eavesdropping on blue whale song in the Antarctic, chasing storms across the Top End and uncovering a tropical shark graveyard of 750 teeth, one of which fell from the gum of an ancient shark.The CSIRO’s flagship research vessel has made a rare stop in Sydney, at Balmain’s White Bay, ahead of its 101st expedition.
“They’re big and they’re hot,” Roughan, a professor of oceanography at UNSW, says from the control room of the Investigator, which is currently moored in Balmain’s White Bay. “And we don’t really understand where they move, or why, or how.Credit:“We’re also trying to understand how deep these eddies go, how much heat they hold, what their structure and shape is, and how they evolve in time.”
Roughan’s findings will also be important for fisheries. When hot and cold eddies clash, Roughan suspects their intersection creates productive hotspots as the colder, nutritious water mixes with warm. Tuna gather in the centre of eddies, relaxing in the warm oases and feeding on the nutrient-laden swirl.
Behind the vessel, a piece of equipment called the Triaxus will trail a kilometre of wire gyrating through the water column and taking sensitive measurements of heat and salinity through the eddies. While the Investigator patrols the seas, NASA’s new SWOT satellite will provide backup from space, mapping the ocean around the vessel at high resolution to help track down and analyse the eddies.Voyage chief scientist Professor Moninya Roughan and Margot Hines on the bridge of the Investigator.
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