A Climatological View of the Kuroshio/Oyashio System East of Japan*

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Abstract
Time-averaged structure of the Kuroshio/Oyashio system east of Japan was examined using historical hydrographic data. Unlike most of the earlier climatological analyses, the data were averaged along isopycnal rather than pressure surfaces in a 0.5° × 0.5° grid. As a result, most of the detailed phenomena associated with the narrow western boundary currents were revealed. Water from the Oyashio is seen to overshoot the zero zonally integrated wind-stress-curl line by more than 5°, approaching as far south as 36°–38°N at the western boundary. Water from the Kuroshio Extension, by contrast, tends to feed into the Oyashio Front in the interior ocean. This exchange of waters leads to a zero of zonally integrated (western boundary–180°) meridional transport at about 44°N, reasonably coinciding with the zero of zonally integrated wind stress curl in the western North Pacific. A well-defined double-front structure is seen at depths of the thermocline, but it does not appear to have a strong signature in ... Abstract Time-averaged structure of the Kuroshio/Oyashio system east of Japan was examined using historical hydrographic data. Unlike most of the earlier climatological analyses, the data were averaged along isopycnal rather than pressure surfaces in a 0.5° × 0.5° grid. As a result, most of the detailed phenomena associated with the narrow western boundary currents were revealed. Water from the Oyashio is seen to overshoot the zero zonally integrated wind-stress-curl line by more than 5°, approaching as far south as 36°–38°N at the western boundary. Water from the Kuroshio Extension, by contrast, tends to feed into the Oyashio Front in the interior ocean. This exchange of waters leads to a zero of zonally integrated (western boundary–180°) meridional transport at about 44°N, reasonably coinciding with the zero of zonally integrated wind stress curl in the western North Pacific. A well-defined double-front structure is seen at depths of the thermocline, but it does not appear to have a strong signature in ...