1 98 WATER A\ASSES AND CURRENTS OF THE OCEANS 



agreement with direct measurements at one station in the passage. The 

 transport amounts to about 20 million m^/sec. Similar conditions are 

 encountered further north between the northern Riukiu Islands and the 

 continental shelf, where, however, a weak countercurrent appears to be 

 present on the left-hand side of the main flow. The maximum velocities 

 in this profile are somewhat above 80 cm/sec, and the computed transport 

 is 23 million m^/sec. 



Off Shiono-misaki in latitude 33°N the character of the Kuroshio is 

 closely related to the Florida Current to the south of Cape Hatteras. 

 The transport of the Kuroshio between the coast and its outer limit is 

 greatly increased, but the countercurrent on the right-hand side carries 

 large amounts of water in the opposite direction. It is probable that a 

 considerable annual variation takes place in the transport, but so far 

 little information is available on the subject. 



The temperatures of the Kuroshio water are comparable to those 

 of the Florida Current, but the salinities are much lower, the maximum 

 salinity in the Kuroshio being slightly less than 35.00°/oo, whereas the 

 maximum salinity in the Florida Current is about 36.50°/oo. This 

 difference reflects the general lower salinity of the Pacific as compared 

 to the Atlantic. The temperature of the Kuroshio is subject to a large 

 annual variation (p. 78) that is related to excessive cooling in winter by 

 cold offshore winds. Off Shiono-misaki the annual range at the surface 

 amounts to nearly 9°, and at 100 m the range is still nearly 4.5°. 



The Kuroshio Extension. In lat. 35°N, where the Kuroshio 

 leaves the coast of Japan, it divides into two branches: one major branch 

 that turns due east and retains its character as a well-defined flow as far as 

 approximately long. 160°E, and one minor branch which continues 

 toward the northeast as far as lat. 40°N, where it bends east. The major 

 branch is evident on charts showing the anomaly of the surface tempera- 

 ture or the difference between air and surface temperatures in winter. 

 According to Schott a tongue within which this difference is greater than 

 4°C extends east toward long. 170°E — that is, beyond the eastern limit 

 of the well-defined flow. Between long. 155° and 160°E, considerable 

 water masses turn toward the south and southwest, forming part of 

 the Kuroshio Countercurrent, which runs at a distance of approxi- 

 mately 700 km from the coast as the eastern branch of a large whirl 

 on the right-hand side of the Kuroshio. 



According to the vertical sections of temperature and salinity in fig. 53 

 the Kuroshio Extension is, in long. 153°E, still a narrow current, but, 

 continuing toward the east, a section in long. 162°E shows that the current 

 has been broken up into a number of branches separated by eddies and 

 countercurrents. The change corresponds to the one which, in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, takes place between the regions to the south of the Grand 

 Banks and to the north of the Azores (see fig. 41, p. 169). 



