Kuroshio path variability inferred from satellite-derived sea surface topography in the northwestern Pacific

The Kuroshio has a fundamental impact on the regional oceanography of the northwestern Pacific. But identification of the Kuroshio path (KP), an abstraction of the course along which the Kuroshio mainstream moves, has not yet been established in a systematic manner. We optimally track the KP and study its variability in the northwestern Pacific south of ∼31°N, where eddy activity is rich. An automatic contour method based on maximum surface geostrophic velocity along a given satellite-derived dynamic topographic isoline is applied and its performance is evaluated. Our results are robust and can be further used to derive kinematical, statistical, and spectral properties of the flow field of the Kuroshio upstream. We improve the identification method by tracing two separate KPs in different subdomains. The existence of an alignment or mismatch of these two retrieved KPs hints at the arrival of an approaching eddy. The highly variable and distorted KP east of Luzon Strait and Taiwan is due to eddy impingement. Most of the variability along the KP stems from energy with time scales of ∼30–200 days and 1 year. A more consistent KP is seen north of ∼26°N, with increasing surface currents of up to ∼1 m s⁻¹ before entering through the Tokara Strait. Such regional differences result from the various impacts of impinging mesoscale eddies on the Kuroshio, mainly due to blockage by the Ryukyu Islands. Our optimally determined KP is in line with the historical shipborne subsurface velocity measurements revealing the Kuroshio velocity core and observations of strong surface currents of > ∼0.5 m s⁻¹ by shore-based high-frequency radar (HFR) from locations along the east coast of Taiwan. Supportive evidence of concurrent KP distortion shows that HFR-derived vortex-like flow patterns are related to mesoscale eddies impinging from regions east of the radar footprint. Our work has value as a supplement to the data from radar operational routines, and will help interpret and diagnose these complicated HFR observations east of Taiwan.