The Kuroshio Current

• Fast moving warm water current

• Analogous to the gulf stream

• Also known as the Black Stream after its deep blue water.

Path of the Kuroshio Current

• The Pacific North Equatorial Current branches to feed the Equatorial Counter Current and the Kuroshio Current.

• Warm water from low latitudes is driven by the trade winds along the equator and deflected along the western boundry of Taiwan and the Northwestern Boundry of Japan

• The Kurishio then divides into two legs the Kurishio Extension (or the main stream) and the Tsushima Current.

Features of the Kuroshio Current

• Travels at a speed of about 7 km per hour

• Can have a width of up to 100 km

• Can transport water at a rate of 50 million tons per second.

Biological Importance

• Transports warm waters that sustain the coral reefs of Japan.

• Where the Kuroshio meets the cold nutrient rich Oyashio Current there is an explosive phytoplankton bloom that drives a rich fishery.

References

• http://www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstec-e/earth/index.html

• Annual and Interannual Variability in the Kuroshio Current System. Keisuke Mizuno and Warren B. White. Oct 1983

• Taiwan Current (Kuroshio) and Impinging Eddies. Yih Yang, et al. Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 55, pp. 609 to 617. 1999