A MASSIVE ocean vortex discovered off the West Australian coast is acting as a "death trap" by sucking in huge amounts of fish larvae and could affect the surrounding climate.
A team of scientists from The University of Western Australia Murdoch University, CSIRO and three American, French and Spanish research institutions announced the discovery of the vortex after a month-long research voyage in the ocean just west of Rottnest Island. Led by Dr Anya Waite, a biological oceanographer from UWA, the 10-member team found the vortex �?200km in diameter and 1000m deep �?spinning at speeds up to 5kph just off the Rottnest Canyon.
Dr Waite said the vortex, shaped like a giant child's spinning top, was created by current movement down the coast and is one of the largest ever found off of WA.
Visible from space, the vortex is acting as a "death trap" by sucking in fish larvae from closer to the shore, she said.
"It's actually acting as a predator, it's actually taking the fish larvae which need to stick around their natural habitat on the coast, and dragging them off to sea," Dr Waite said.
She said the climate above the vortex was noticeably different.
"It feels like you're in the tropics," she said.
"It's warm, soft, moist air, with flying fish, it's a very different environment."
It could also potentially affect climate further afield, she said.
"The vortex is moving a large volume of a very warm current out back into cooler waters, so essentially it's taking that heat and moving it away from the coast.
"So essentially that really changes the heat budget of our regional ocean and it's the ocean that determines climate."
Dr Waite said the vortex was unlikely to pose a danger to people sailing or diving in the area but the change was definitely noticeable.
"We were in a 70-metre boat and you could immediately feel the shift in the ship's tract, so you can certainly tell that there's something unusual going on out there," she said.
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