Understanding current velocities are important for navigation, marine biological and biochemical processes, as well as transport and dispersion of sediments and floating materials such as plastic and oil. This map shows the mean of the 1993-1999 period sea surface above geoid, corrected from geophysical effects taken for the NZ region. This broadly corresponds to mean surface velocity (m) recorded from drifters in the NZ region at 250 m resolution. A moving real-time visualization of currents around New Zealand can be viewed here: https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-more-layers/overlays?currentsTide,-37.736,175.898,6. Also, to view a dynamic model of freshwater input interacting with currents along part of the South Island coast over 1 year see: https://vimeo.com/48991072

Understanding current velocities are important for navigation, marine biological and biochemical processes, as well as transport and dispersion of sediments and floating materials such as plastic and oil. This map shows the mean of the 1993-1999 period sea surface above geoid, corrected from geophysical effects taken for the NZ region. This broadly corresponds to mean surface velocity (m) recorded from drifters in the NZ region at 250 m resolution. A moving real-time visualization of currents around New Zealand can be viewed here: https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-more-layers/overlays?currentsTide,-37.736,175.898,6. Also, to view a dynamic model of freshwater input interacting with currents along part of the South Island coast over 1 year see: https://vimeo.com/48991072