Gathering information on marine climate impacts

Despite a modest population, Australia has the 3rd largest ocean territory on the planet, and is a key Southern Hemisphere partner on the global effort to monitor the oceans. Sustained, routine observations of the oceans over multiple decades are needed to be able to understand climate change impacts in the context of climate variability. Processes which drive variability in the oceans operate on timescales from intra-seasonal (e.g. storm driven upwelling) to decades (Pacific Decadal Oscillation), and the response of the ecosystem can occur at a range of levels from phytoplankton through to large apex predators (large fishes such as tuna and sharks and mammals such as seals and whales).