JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 111, C04005, doi:10.1029/2005JC003281, 2006
Does the Taiwan Warm Current originate in the Taiwan Strait in
wintertime?
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen1 and David D. Sheu1
Received 6 September 2005; revised 12 December 2005; accepted 9 January 2006; published 13 April 2006.
[1] There is no doubt that the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) flows through the Taiwan
Strait in summer and it reaches the East China Sea (ECS) proper, bringing with it a great
deal of nutrients. Here satellite temperature, as well as hydrological, satellite-tracked
drifter, and 18O data, are used to show that in winter, warm waters from the South China
Sea and a branch of the Kuroshio south of Taiwan reach only the southern part of the
Taiwan Strait and that in no way do they flow up freely through the northern part of the
Taiwan Strait. This is a clear sign that in winter most of the TWC must originate in the
Kuroshio, which moves onto the ECS shelf northeast of Taiwan.
Citation: Chen, C.-T. A., and D. D. Sheu (2006), Does the Taiwan Warm Current originate in the Taiwan Strait in wintertime?,
J. Geophys. Res., 111, C04005, doi:10.1029/2005JC003281.
1. Introduction
[2] The Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) which flows to the
north all year round between the 50-m and 100-m isobaths
has an overwhelming influence on the western part of the
East China Sea (ECS). Named for its characteristic high
temperature [Mao et al., 1964] even during strong NE
monsoons in winter, particularly when compared with the
southward flowing coastal current [Su et al., 1990], the
TWC has had its fair share of debate with regard to exactly
where it originates in winter. Earlier hydrographic studies
[Uda, 1934; Mao et al., 1964] and results from bottom
drifters [Inoue, 1975] provided some evidence that the
TWC is a branch of the Kuroshio and that it originates in
the NE of Taiwan where the Kuroshio impinges upon and
upwells onto the ECS continental shelf [Chern and Wang,
1990; Wong et al., 1991; Liu et al., 1992; Chen et al.,
1995].
[3] Beardsley et al. [1985] and Chen et al. [1994], on
the other hand, generally subscribed to the view of Niino
and Emery [1961], Mao and Guan [1982] and Nitani
[1972] that the TWC originates in the Taiwan Strait and
flows northeastwardly. They also contended that unlike the
Kuroshio which flows to the south of Japan, the TWC
flows into the Sea of Japan through the Tsushima Straits
between Korea and Japan. Guan [1983] pointed out that
in summer, the upper part of the TWC must have its
source in waters flowing through the Taiwan Strait. Yet,
the picture would be incomplete without recognizing the
work of Weng and Wang [1984] that advocated that in
summer, the lower layer of the TWC is derived from the
Kuroshio intrusion northeast of Taiwan, while the upper
layer is a mixture of the intruding Kuroshio water flowing
through the Taiwan Strait. Perhaps complicating the issue
1
Institute of Marine Geology and Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen
University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.
0148-0227/06/2005JC003281$09.00
further, Su and Pan [1987, 1990] and Yuan et al. [1987]
advanced the notion that the TWC actually has two
branches, one inshore that flows northward near the
50-m isobath and the other that turns toward the shelf
break around 27N.
[4] Su et al. [1990, 1994] reported that in summer
the TWC originates either in the Taiwan Strait or north
of Taiwan because of the northward intrusion of the
Kuroshio, a view that, at least partially, supports the results
of Weng and Wang [1984]. Su et al. further explained that
because the shelf water is denser than the Kuroshio water
in winter, the intrusion of the Kuroshio Shelf Water (KSS)
must take place while the Kuroshio Subsurface Water is
upwelling onto the shelf and that most of the intruding
KSS returns to the shelf break region, thus forming an
offshore branch of the TWC. The rest, they claimed, flows
northward east of the cold coastal waters, and is often
strengthened by currents from the Taiwan Strait except
during strong northerly winds. According to them, it is this
that leads to the formation of the inshore branch of the
TWC.
[5] In their recent article, Zhu et al. [2004] have reported
that there is no question about the existence of the TWC in
summer. They have also made the case to argue that the
TWC is present in winter too, but Zhu et al. [2004,
paragraph 10] have concluded that it originates in ‘‘. . . a
warm water sourcing from the Taiwan Strait and flowing
continuously to the submerged river valley off the
Changjiang’’. Furthermore, Kim et al. [2005] have very
recently studied the origin of the Tsushima Current using
their oxygen isotope measurements near the Tsushima
Straits as well as literature data for the Taiwan Strait and
those for northern Taiwan. They have adopted the view of
Beardsley et al. [1985] that the Taiwan Strait waters
contribute to the Tsushima Current. The present study,
however, hopefully resolves this much discussed issue,
and it does so by employing satellite temperature data, field
measurements of hydrography, plus satellite-tracked drifter
and 18O studies in the Taiwan Strait. In a nutshell, what the
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results indicate is that, in all likelihood, the TWC does not
originate in the Taiwan Strait in winter.
2. Methods
[6] Discrete surface water samples at 2 m were collected
along three transects across the Taiwan Strait during 20– 25
March 2000 on board the R/V Ocean Researcher III. The
d18O analysis of water samples followed the procedures of
Epstein and Mayeda [1953], and was first equilibrated with
CO2 at 40 ± 0.05C using Micromass Multiprep system,
then performed with a VG Optima isotopic ratio mass
spectrometer. Results of isotopic measurement were
expressed with the conventional d notation and reported in
per mil (%) difference relative to the Vienna SMOW
standard. The overall procedural error evaluated by triplicate water samples was approximately ±0.1%.
3. Satellite Data
[7] Zhu et al. [2004] have used satellite temperature data
for January 1986 and February 2001 to demonstrate the
intrusion of the warm TWC. Pertinent here, however, is that
while the composite NOAA sea surface temperatures (SST)
for the months of January and February 2001 (Figures 1a –1f)
do indeed show a tongue-like warmer water feature
extending to an area off the Changjiang River estuary
near 123E, 31N (Figures 1d and 1e), correctly interpreting the snapshot SST images can be tricky. More to the
point, the same snapshots may very well be explained by
both the southward flow of cold coastal waters to the west
of the remnant warm waters from summer and, at the same
time, by the southward flow of the cold Yellow Sea waters
to the east of the remnant warm waters. Actually, the
southward flow of cold waters may be substantiated by
looking at a series of SST snapshots starting from October
2000 (Figure 1a) where the 24C water (bright yellow)
spreads to roughly 27N along the coast. Offshore, the
24C water flows in a downwind, southeastward direction
from a point just south of the Changjiang River mouth and
extends to about 2830’N at 12430’E. Between these
colder waters is the 25C water (light pink in Figure 1a)
which extends northward to 30N along a submerged river
valley offshore of the Changjiang River mouth [Beardsley
et al., 1985]. In November 2000, the 24C water reaches
not only Taiwan, but also the northern South China Sea
(Figure 1b). In fact, the 20C water (dark green in
Figure 1b) reaches 24N along the Chinese coast and the
25C water previously found off the Changjiang River
estuary has by now been forced to as far as 125E.
[8] In December 2000 the 18C water (light green in
Figure 1c) reaches 24N in the western Taiwan Strait, while
the 24C water can no longer be found on the ECS shelf
except off northeastern Taiwan (Figure 1c). The patch of
cold water further extends southward from the Yellow Sea,
and the 18C water reaches about 31N. Slightly warmer
water exists between this cold patch and the coastal waters
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off the Changjiang River estuary. This warm water, or the
remnant TWC, has not cooled very much by January 2001
unlike the cold waters on both sides which have cooled
much more (Figure 1d). Of particular interest here is that in
the Taiwan Strait the 24C water only exists in the southeastern part. The entire northern part of the Taiwan Strait is
now less than 20C, but north of Taiwan, the intrusion of
the 24C water becomes obvious. The explanation for this is
simple: It must have come from the Kuroshio.
[9] In February 2001 the SST pattern remains the same
(Figure 1e) as that in the previous month. Above all, the
warmer water feature near 123E and 31N seems almost
stationary, with colder waters on both sides. Zhu et al.
[2004] have interpreted this as evidence of the northward
flow of the TWC. In March 2001 the 24C water in the
Taiwan Strait finally reaches northwestern Taiwan, but
it does not seem to flow all the way to the ECS proper
(Figure 1f).
[10] On the weight of the evidence from Figures 1a – 1f,
there is little doubt that the warm surface waters in all
likelihood do not flow right up through the Taiwan Strait in
winter.
4. Hydrography of the Taiwan Strait
[11] The q/S diagram of the northern Taiwan Strait, shown
in Figure 2, is very distinctive. Waters in the eastern part
(stations A –C) where the water depth is more than 75 m are
those that have circumvented the northern tip of Taiwan.
These waters probably originated in the South China Sea
which accounts for the fact the q/S signature (longer line
segment in Figure 2a) is similar to that of the South China
Sea (SCS). Enhanced mixing on the ECS shelf, however,
turns the originally curved SCS q/S plot [Chen and Huang,
1996; Chen and Wang, 1998] into a line [Chen et al., 1995;
Chen and Hsing, 2005]. Waters in the western portion of the
Taiwan Strait (stations D –I) also have a linear q/S plot
(shorter line segment in Figure 2a), and these waters are a
mixture of the coastal waters and the waters that have
flowed through the Taiwan Strait. Both q/S plots have a
negative slope.
[12] In winter, the waters in the eastern part of the
northern Taiwan Strait have much lower temperatures but
only slightly lower salinity, and the q/S plot still has a
negative slope (shorter line segment in Figure 2b). Waters in
the western part of the strait, however, have already been
cooled a great deal along the Chinese coast, thereby
changing the slope of the q/S plot to a positive one. The
cold coastal waters are nutrient-rich and must have come
from the north [Chen, 2003]. In plain terms, this means that
a mixture of the SCS water and the Kuroshio branch is
found in the entire Taiwan Strait in summer, but only in the
southern end of the Taiwan Strait in winter. The reason for
this is that it does not continue to flow right through to the
northern part of the Taiwan Strait, let alone ever reach the
Changjiang estuary. The hydrographical data and the numerical study of Jan et al. [2002] have similarly indicated
Figure 1. Sea surface temperatures between October 2000 and March 2001 obtained from NOAA (provided by National
Taiwan Ocean University). In the color bar code, each shade corresponds to sea surface temperatures indicated. Bar code is
same in all figures.
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Figure 1
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Figure 2. The q/S plots for northern part of Taiwan Strait obtained in August and December 2001.
Typical q/S plots of South China Sea and West Philippine Sea waters are represented by two thin lines
(modified from Chen and Hsing [2005]).
that only a small portion of the Kuroshio branch in the
southern Taiwan Strait manages to flow to the northern end
of the strait in winter.
[13] Zhu et al. [2004] observed a northward flow on 5 –6
March at a station where the water depth is 50 m. On the
other hand, the acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP)
results indicated that the flow was southward on 6 – 9 March
at two shallower stations. True, Zhu et al. have correctly
reported that southward winds prevailed during their
February –March 2001 survey, but they seemingly failed
to notice that the strong NW winds relaxed on 5 March, and
actually turned northward for two days when the currents
were measured at the 50-m-deep station. In this regard,
Chen [2003] reported that a sudden relaxation of the
southward winds in the Taiwan Strait resulted in a sudden
northward rush of the Taiwan Strait water which had
previously been held back by the prevailing winds that
had been blowing in the opposite direction. In this sense, the
northward flowing TWC that Zhu et al. have claimed to
observe may, in fact, only be a rare event in winter.
against the even stronger NE monsoon. Worth bearing in
mind, after the drifter joins the Kuroshio, it flows onto the
shelf before turning back toward the northeast. This is
highly consistent with the pattern of the satellite temperatures in early winter (Figure 1d). It should be no surprise
then that Tang et al. [2000] reported that the intrusion of the
Kuroshio onto the ECS shelf can block the flow from the
Taiwan Strait to the ECS. Along the same lines of evidence
5. Drifter Data
[14] Although it is argued above that in winter waters in
the northern Taiwan Strait do not flow northward, in no way
does it exclude the possibility that an intermittent northward
flow does actually occur, especially when there is a relaxation in the NE monsoon. A northward flow, nevertheless, is
probably an exception rather than the rule and therefore not
continuous [Chen, 2003] and may very well be diverted
back toward the south once the NE monsoon resumes. The
bottom-mounted ADCP data coupled with the results from
model calculations support just that [Ko et al., 2003; Wu
and Hsin, 2005].
[15] Figure 3 shows the trajectory of each of two satellitetracked drifters afloat in the Taiwan Strait from 7 October to
29 November 1997 [Tseng and Shen, 2003]. It is apparent
that although the drifters do flow northward through the
Taiwan Strait in late October, one drifter turns somewhat
abruptly toward the south, and then flows southeastwardly
and eventually joins the Kuroshio in early November. The
other drifter ceased to transmit data on 26 October. In
winter, it would probably be even more difficult for a
drifter, or the current for that matter, to flow northward
Figure 3. Satellite-tracked drifter 1 (blue line) and drifter 2
(red line) trajectories from 7 October to 29 November 1997.
Isobaths (in meters) in Taiwan Strait and in adjacent seas are
also shown. Number beside each trajectory shows month
and day, where 1026 means 26 October, for example.
Direction of flow is indicated by arrow next to each
trajectory. PHC is Peng-hu Channel; CYR is Chang-yuen
Ridge; and KYD is Kuan-Yin Depression (Tseng and Shen
[2003]; courtesy of R. S. Tseng).
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Figure 4. Distribution of (a) surface temperature (C), (b) salinity, (c) st, and (d) d18O (%) in Taiwan
Strait in March 2000. Black dots indicate sampling sites.
too is the fact that a temperature front in the southern ECS
also suggests that the northern Taiwan Strait water is
separated from the ECS in winter [Hickox et al., 2000].
6. The
18
O Data
[16] The horizontal distribution of surface temperatures
(C), salinity, st, and of d18O (%) in the Taiwan Strait in
March 2000, given in Figure 4, provides yet another
window on the issue here. It is immediately clear that the
temperature, salinity, and st contours in the northern Taiwan
Strait are more or less horizontal, with colder, fresher but
heavier waters located in the northern part. These contours
indicate that the warmer, more saline but lighter waters in
the southern Taiwan Strait do not flow through the strait.
Besides this, the st contours indicate that although the
waters on the Chinese coast are cooled to 12C, they are
still relatively light on account of the low salinity when
compared to waters northwest of Taiwan.
[17] The d18O contours in the northern Taiwan Strait are
also more or less horizontal. Particularly important here is
that the – 0.4% contour line extends across the entire
northern Taiwan Strait. Against this, the waters in the
southern Taiwan Strait have a d18O value of 0.1% or even
higher. It is reasonable to conclude that the warmer, saltier
and 18O heavy waters in the southern Taiwan Strait do not
flow to the northern part of the Taiwan Strait. On the
contrary, the northern part of the Taiwan Strait is filled with
colder, fresher, 18O light waters in winter. The d18O values
correlate well with salinity (d18O = 9.38 + 0.28S) with an
r2 value of 0.87. The large negative interaction at S = 0 is
indicative of riverine input, which is mostly contributed by
the Chiangjiang (Yangtze River). Of note is that Kim et al.
[2005] have assumed that some low-18O waters in their
study area originated in the Taiwan Strait. In fact, the small,
low-18O signals found in their study, as well as the large,
low-18O signals detected in the northern Taiwan Strait in
this study must have come from diluted water from the
Chiangjiang.
7. Discussion and Conclusions
[18] The satellite sea surface temperature as well as the
hydrological and drifter data all substantiate the view that,
in winter, waters do not flow freely through to the northern
part of the Taiwan Strait, if at all. In fact, Wang and Chern
[1988], using CTD data gathered in winter, identified a
quasi-stationary zonal oceanic front in the central Taiwan
Strait, thus blocking the northward intrusion of the
Kuroshio branch water. Further, Lie and Cho [1994] concluded that the saline Kuroshio branch water is stagnant in
the Taiwan Strait in winter and flows out only intermittently
from winter to early spring. Using flow volume transports
measured in the Peng-hu Channel (Figure 3), which is the
major inflow region of the Taiwan Strait, Jan and Chao
[2003] also concluded that there is almost no northward
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Figure 4. (continued)
Figure 4. (continued)
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Figure 4. (continued)
flowing warm current against the strong NE monsoon in
winter. As a result, there is no connection between the socalled South China Sea Warm Current and the TWC.
Finally, results from current measurements using four bottom-mounted ADCPs across the central Taiwan Strait
indicated that there is no persistent northward flow in the
Taiwan Strait in winter [Ko et al., 2003; Teague et al., 2003;
Lin et al., 2005]. What all this means is that the TWC found
in the ECS could not have originated in the Taiwan Strait,
but instead must have come from a branch of the Kuroshio.
On these grounds, it follows that the Taiwan Strait water
most likely does not contribute much to the Tsushima Warm
Current in winter. In fact, Teague et al. [2003] calculated
fluxes on the basis of bottom-mounted ADCP data and
concluded that the average volume transport was only
0.14 Sv through the Taiwan Strait between October and
December 1999 compared with a remarkable 0.59 Sv
through the Cheju Strait and an even greater 3.17 Sv
through the Korea Strait. The main source of the Tsushima
Current and its flow into the Sea of Japan is unquestionably
the Kuroshio in the fall months. The contribution from the
Taiwan Strait is expected to be even smaller in winter when
the NE winds are stronger.
[19] It is important to clearly understand the source of
the TWC in that it affects the heat and salt balances of not
only the Yellow and East China seas, but also the Sea of
Japan. Beyond that, it has important implications as far as
the transport of nutrients to the ECS goes. Since the
Taiwan Strait is rather shallow, with a sill depth of only
60 m, any SCS or Kuroshio water that does manage to
flow right up through the strait is confined to the surface
layer and, as a rule, is low in nutrient concentrations.
Hence if the TWC did originate in the Taiwan Strait it
would not provide much nutrients to the ECS to support
one of the largest fishing grounds in the world. The truth
of the matter is that the subsurface waters of the Kuroshio
are nutrient-rich to the point that when the Kuroshio moves
onto the ECS shelf and forms the TWC, it may very well
contain subsurface waters and transport a great deal of
nutrients to the ECS proper [Chen, 1996, 2005; Chen and
Wang, 1999].
[20] Acknowledgments. This research was supported by the National
Science Council of Taiwan (NSC 94-2611-M-110-001, 94-2621-Z-110001) and the Aim for Top University Plan (95C 0302). S. Jan of National
Central University, C. R. Wu of National Taiwan Normal University, and
R. S. Tseng and C. C. Chang of National Sun Yat-sen University provided
assistance. The National Center for Ocean Research of Taiwan supported
the cruise under the project ‘‘Taiwan Strait Nowcast Study.’’ Two anonymous reviewers and J. Richman provided valuable comments which
strengthened the manuscript.
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C.-T. A. Chen and D. D. Sheu, Institute of Marine Geology and
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([email protected])
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