Recent Progress in the Study of Ocean Circulation and Warm Pool in the Western Pacific

NPOCE (Northwestern Pacific Ocean Circulation and Climate Experiment) has made great advancement in the study of ocean circulation and climate in the northwestern Pacific Ocean since its inauguration 2010. The first of the highlights should be a couple of dozens of subsurface moorings deployed and retrieved mainly by China, Korea, and Japan, from which some time series of currents and temperature/salinity were acquired. Among others, a four year record on Mindanao Current/Mindanao Undercurrent (MC/MUC) and a two year on Kuroshio/Luzon Undercurrent (KC/LUC) will be presented, from which some new characteristics and findings have been abstracted and revealed, especially the strength and the core depth, and intraseaasonal variability of the undercurrents (MUC and LUC) different from the previous geostrophic calculation. In other aspects, scientific results includes NEC (North Equatorial Current) and its bifurcation variability on seasonal, interannual, decadal/interdecadal time scales will be highlighted and presented. Finally, a new insight into the relationship or interaction between the western boundary currents and warm pool was proposed and will be described in the present talk.