Surface Kuroshio path in the Luzon Strait area derived from satellite remote sensing data

Abstract

Satellite ocean color, sea surface temperature, and altimeter data are used to study the surface Kuroshio path in the Luzon Strait area. The results suggest that the dominant path of surface Kuroshio intrusion in winter is a direct route from northeast of Luzon to southwest of Taiwan and then westward along the continental slope of northern South China Sea. Anticyclonic intrusions of the Kuroshio in the Luzon Strait area are observed during less than 30% of the time on average and in all four seasons of the year. Winter is the most favorable season for the formation of the anticyclonic intrusions. However, the Kuroshio is observed to deviate from the dominant path during only a little over one third of the wintertime on average. The loop currents of the Kuroshio, which feature prominent inflow‐outflow currents in the Luzon Strait during the anticyclonic intrusions, are observed only occasionally, with more episodes in summer than in winter. The observation of more frequent loop currents of the Kuroshio in summer than in winter is a revision to the existing conclusion. These results demonstrate that the anticyclonic intrusion of the Kuroshio is a transient phenomenon rather than a persistent circulation pattern in the Luzon Strait area as suggested by some of the existing numerical model simulations. The growth and decay of the anticyclonic intrusions of the Kuroshio are closely related to the passages and evolution of mesoscale eddies in the Luzon Strait area. Each anticyclonic intrusion event lasts for a few weeks. Its termination sometimes results in a detached anticyclonic eddy propagating to the western basin along the continental slope of the northern South China Sea.