It is shown from Fig. 1b that LMP formed in 1975 has a relatively large distance in the upstream area from off Ashizuri-misaki to off Daioh-zaki and LMPs formed after 1981 commonly have a large distance in the downstream area from off Omae-zaki to off Inubou-zaki. New features of the characteristics of the variation in path pattern of Kuroshio south of Japan are pointed out (Sekine and Chen, 1999).

Secondly, the clear relationship between the selection of the bimodal path of the Kuroshio and the sea level difference between Kushimoto and Uragami (Fig. 2a), located to the west and east of the southern tip of the Kii Peninsula is discussed.

a

b

Fig. 4　(a)Seasonal variations of the observed geostrophic volume transport of the Kuroshio south of Japan (closed circles) referred to 1000db (after Minami, et al., 1979) and those (open circles) referred to 1500db (after Sekine et al. 1991). (b)Seasonal variation of the Sverdrup transport over the North Pacific calculated from the wind stress data compiled by Kutsuwada and Teramoto (1987). Closed circles show the Sverdrup transport over all area of the North Pacific along 30°N integrated from 125°W to 135°E. Open circles show the Sverdrup transport west to the Hawaii Ridge along 30 - 32°N integrated from 170°E to 130°E. Closed squares show the Sverdrup transport west to the Izu Ridge along 30-32°N integrated from 140°E to 130°E (Sekine and Kutsuwada, 1994).

BACK　　　CONTENTS　　　NEXT