Australian and Japanese scientists claim that the discovery of a deep sea current in the Southern Ocean could potentially provide new insights on climate change.

A group of scientists in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean, about 4,200 kilometres south-west of Perth, has discovered a deep ocean current with a volume corresponding to a number of 40 Amazon Rivers.

The current was discovered using equipment anchored to the bottom of the ocean and is a crucial part of the circulation pattern of a global ocean that aids in regulating the planet's climate by carrying icy, oxygen-rich water north from Antarctica to the South Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Steve Rintoul, a physical oceanographer from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre and Commonwealth Scientific and Industiral Research Organization (CSIRO), stated that the current plays an important role in a global network of ocean systems and could help researchers monitor the climate change impacts.

The climate is influenced by the ocean by storing and transporting carbon dioxide and heat. The findings which were published in Nature Geoscience yesterday were the result of the Australian-Japanese study for two years.