Changing Kuroshio and Its Affected Shelf Sea: A Physical View

Since around 2010, there have been numerous studies on seasonal, interannual, and longer timescale variations in the path and volume transport of the Kuroshio over its entire length because sufficiently long time series data from satellites and reanalysis datasets have been accumulated. This review provides an overview of the integrated features of these variations, which have historically been investigated separately in geographically distinct regions. Specifically, we focus on keystone phenomena that are representative of separate regions, which include Kuroshio volume transport variations off Luzon Island, off Taiwan, and in the East China Sea. Additionally, we examine Kuroshio path variations such as the meridional shift in the bifurcation latitude of the North Equatorial Current off the Philippines, the Kuroshio intrusion into the South China Sea through the Luzon Strait, the Kuroshio on-shelf intrusion northeast of Taiwan, and the Kuroshio path states around Kyushu Island. The principle pieces of knowledge obtained through this review are as follows. The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) regulate these phenomena to a greater or lesser degree, with the PDO tending to provide a more dominative driver than the ENSO.