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) runs into the Philippine coast and bifurcates into the northward Kuroshio 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 Kuroshio and MC can significantly impact variability downstream. For example, the Kuroshio 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 Current.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2013
Accession Number
ADA598660

Entities

People

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

Organizations

  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Communication Systems
  • Data Sets
  • East China Sea
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Internal Waves
  • North Pacific Ocean
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Predictive Modeling
  • South China Sea
  • Transport Ships
  • Water Masses
  • Waves
  • Wind Stress

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Oceanography.