Water Volume Transport Through the Taiwan Strait and the Continental Skelf of the East China Sea Measured with Current Meters

Abstract

Abstract Historical current meter data from 24–hour anchored ships above the continental shelf of the East China Sea are analysed. The total (vertically integrated) flow averaged for each 2. 2° latitude × 2. 2° longitude square is clearly northeastward for all four seasons. The annual mean of the volume transport through the offshore area west of the 150 m isobath is estimated to be about 2 Sv. The anchored ship current meter data in the Taiwan Strait are analysd in combination with moored current meter data by Chuang (1985, 1986) and Wang and Chern (1988) for a rough estimate of the volume transport through the Strait. The annual mean is also about 2 Sv. The volume transport through the Taiwan Strait and the shelf of the East China Sea is comparable, in magnitude, with the transport through the Tsushima Strait (Korea Strait), which is about 2. 8 Sv (Miita and Ogawa, 1984, 1985). These results suggest the existence of an extended current system including the Tsushima current system on the shoreside of the Kuroshio, which extends from the Taiwan Strait to the Tsugaru Strait. This current system is called “Taiwan–Tsushima–Tsugaru Warm Current System (T–T–T WCS)”. The dynamic height of the sea surface relative to 1000 db in the northeastern South China Sea is higher than that in the area east of the Tsugaru and Soya Strait by about 0. 7m. This sea–level difference is believed to be the main driving force of the T–T–T WCS.