The Kuroshio Current is a northward flowing Western Boundary Current (WBC) in the Pacific Ocean. It is a bifurcation arm of the North Equatorial Current and consists of northwestern Pacific Ocean water. The other arm is the southward flowing Mindanao Current. The Kuroshio Current flows along the eastern Philippine coast, up to 13.7 Sv... of it leaking into the Luzon Strait - the gap between the Philippines and Taiwan - before continuing along the Japanese coast. Some of the leaked water manages to intrude into the South China Sea (SCS). This affects the heat and salt budgets and circulation and eddy generation mechanisms in the SCS. There are various theories about possible intrusion paths and what mechanisms initiate them.
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Kuroshio Current Intrusion in the context of Kuroshio Current
The Kuroshio Current (黒潮; "Black Tide"), also known as the Black Current or Japan Current (日本海流, Nihon Kairyū), is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Kuroshio is a powerful western boundary current that transports warm equatorial water poleward and forms the western limb of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Off the East Coast of Japan, it merges with the Oyashio Current to form the North Pacific Current.
The Kuroshio Current has significant effects on both physical and biological processes of the North Pacific Ocean, including nutrient and sediment transport, major pacific storm tracks and regional climate, and Pacific mode water formation. Additionally, the current's significant nutrient transport results in a biologically rich ecoregion supporting an important fishing industry as well as diverse marine food webs. The South China Sea for example has relatively low nutrient concentrations in its upper waters, but experiences enhanced biological productivity due to the input from the Kuroshio Current Intrusion. Ongoing research centered around the Kuroshio Current's response to climate change predicts a strengthening in surface flows of this western boundary current which contrasts the predicted changes in the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf Stream.