Observations of the North Equatorial Current, Mindanao Current, and Kuroshio Current System During the 2006/ 07 El Niño and 2007/08 La Niña
Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 65, pp. 325 to 333, 2009 Observations of the North Equatorial Current, Mindanao Current, and Kuroshio Current System during the 2006/ 07 El Niño and 2007/08 La Niña 1 2 3 4 YUJI KASHINO *, NORIEVILL ESPAÑA , FADLI SYAMSUDIN , KELVIN J. RICHARDS , 4† 5 1 TOMMY JENSEN , PIERRE DUTRIEUX and AKIO ISHIDA 1Institute of Observational Research for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology, Natsushima, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan 2The Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines, Quezon 1101, Philippines 3Badan Pengkajian Dan Penerapan Teknologi, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia 4International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A. 5Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A. (Received 19 September 2008; in revised form 17 December 2008; accepted 17 December 2008) Two onboard observation campaigns were carried out in the western boundary re- Keywords: gion of the Philippine Sea in December 2006 and January 2008 during the 2006/07 El ⋅ North Equatorial Niño and the 2007/08 La Niña to observe the North Equatorial Current (NEC), Current, ⋅ Mindanao Current (MC), and Kuroshio current system. The NEC and MC measured Mindanao Current, ⋅ in late 2006 under El Niño conditions were stronger than those measured during early Kuroshio, ⋅ 2006/07 El Niño, 2008 under La Niña conditions. The opposite was true for the current speed of the ⋅ 2007/08 La Niña. Kuroshio, which was stronger in early 2008 than in late 2006. The increase in dy- namic height around 8°N, 130°E from December 2006 to January 2008 resulted in a weakening of the NEC and MC.
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