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The Korea Ocean Rsearch and Development Institute (KORDI) deployed about 35 surface drifters in the eastern East China Sea during 1991-1995 (table below). The main objectives of the experiment are to better understand the separation of the Kuroshio southwest of Kyushu, Japan and to construct a surface circulation pattern of the East China Sea from a combined dataset of drifter trajectories and CTD data. Most of drifters were deployed in the neighborhood of the eastward turning point of the Kuroshio in the deep trough southwest of Kyushu and some CTD sections across the Kuroshio were occupied concurrently with releases of drifters.
A preliminary analysis gave, for the first time, a direct evidence for the separation of the northeastward flowing Kuroshio along the shelf slope into two parts; the Kuroshio main stream turning to the east toward the Tokara Strait and a northward flowing branch current penetrating onto the shelf. The branch, Tsushima Warm Current, is found to be part of the inshore Kuroshio, just upstream before its separation. The separation may take place in close association with the eastward turning of the Kuroshio main stream and it might be caused by a joint effect of the shoaling bottom topography and the vorticity adjustment created by the eastward turning of the Kuroshio. This requires more detailed analysis of observed data and numerical model study.
| Release (mon/yr) | 07/91 | 04/92 | 11/92 | 12/93 | 08/94 | 05/95 | 10/96 |
| No. of drifters | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
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