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Exploring the Kuroshio Current: Nature's Aquatic Highway

Discover the powerful Kuroshio Current, a fast-moving warm water current analogous to the Gulf Stream. Learn about its path, features, and biological importance in sustaining Japan's coral reefs and rich fisheries. References included for further reading.

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Exploring the Kuroshio Current: Nature's Aquatic Highway

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  1. The Kuroshio Current • Fast moving warm water current • Analogous to the gulf stream • Also known as the Black Stream after its deep blue water.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

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