Continental Slope Flow Northeast of Taiwan

Abstract

Hydrographic observations and current measurements with a Shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler over the continental shelf–slope junction northeast of Taiwan during 10–17 August 1994 allow the construction of the mesoscale flow pattern generated by the collision of the Kuroshio and a stretch of the continental shelf that has turned to run nearly east–west. The pattern is made up of a deflected Kuroshio mainstream to the east, an intrusion of Kuroshio water onto the continental shelf region, a counterclockwise circulation over Mien-Hwa Canyon (MHC) immediately northeast of Taiwan, a deep southwestward countercurrent along the northern wall of MHC, and a seaward outflow of continental shelf water around the northern coast of Taiwan. The hydrography features a cold dome over the west side of MHC that consisted of subsurface Kuroshio water. A temperature–salinity plot of all the station data shows the incorporation in the neighborhood of Taiwan of continental shelf water into the Kuroshio.