Origins of the Kuroshio and Mindanao Current

Abstract

The boundary currents off the east coasts of the Philippines and Taiwan are of critical importance to the general circulation of the Pacific Ocean. The westward flowing North Equatorial Current (NEC) flows into the Philippine coast and bifurcates into the northward Kuroshio Current (KC) and the southward Mindanao Current (MC). Quantifying these flows and understanding their dynamics are essential to improving predictions of regional circulation, and to characterizing property transports that ultimately affect Pacific climate. Fluctuations in the KC and MC can significantly impact variability downstream. For example, the KC penetrates through Luzon Strait into the South China Sea and onto the East China Sea shelf. The Kuroshio front dramatically alters stratification and may impact internal wave propagation. OKMC incorporates observation, theory, and modeling to make fundamental advances in our knowledge of the origins of the Kuroshio and Mindanao Currents.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2015
Accession Number
AD1014413

Entities

People

  • Bruce D. Cornuelle
  • Daniel L. Rudnick
  • Julie L. McClean
  • Luca R. Centurioni

Organizations

  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Data Sets
  • East China Sea
  • Internal Waves
  • Merchant Vessels
  • Mixing
  • North Pacific Ocean
  • Observation
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Philippine Sea
  • Philippines
  • Salinity
  • Simulations
  • South China Sea
  • Topography

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography