Kuroshio’s Large Meander Impacts Climate
H. Xu, S.-P. Xie, and H. Tokinaga (2010, J. Climate)
Kii Peninsula
a
b
Japan
aa
QuikSCAT wind (color, m/s), SST
(contours) & orography (shading, km)
SSH (contours in cm) & SST (color, C)
The Kuroshio south of Japan takes either a
mostly alongshore or a large-meander path. In
summer 2004, a large meander formed that
lasted for a year. It was the first and only such
event since the beginning of the satellite
altimeter era. A suite of microwave satellites
allowed close and comprehensive observations
of this extraordinary event. Analyses of the
observations showed that a cold pool of water
appeared off the Kii Peninsula (panel a) over
which marine winds decelerated (panel b) and
rainfall reached a local minimum (panel c).
c
c
TRMM precipitation (color, mm/day) & SST (contours)