A New Look at Circulation in the Western North Pacific INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE

The currents in the low-latitude western North Pacific are critical to the general circulation. The North Equatorial Current flows westward, bifurcating off the coast of the Philippines to form the northward-flowing Kuroshio and the southward-flowing Mindanao Current. Below the thermocline, undercurrents flow opposite to the currents above and include the southward-flowing Luzon Undercurrent, the northward-flowing Mindanao Undercurrent, and an eastward-flowing series of North Equatorial Undercurrents. Two complementary programs, Origins of the Kuroshio and Mindanao Current (OKMC) and Observations of Kuroshio Transport and Variability (OKTV), focused on observations and modeling of these currents. Results address the region's circulation, water masses, and eddies. The connectivity between the currents as determined by water masses is of special interest.