The impact of ocean circulation on climate

Warm seawater near the equator flows to the Arctic and Antarctic seas through circulation, and cold polar water flows to the equatorial seas through circulation, forming the circulation of the world's oceans. Ocean circulation is an important factor in maintaining the earth's heat balance. The ocean currents that have the greatest impact on land climate are the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream.

Three main branches of the Kuroshio mainstream in the East China Sea

The high temperature and high salt water of the Kuroshio Current comes from the equatorial waters of the Pacific. It turns from the waters east of the Philippines, enters the East China Sea close to the eastern part of Taiwan Province of my country, flows northeast along the Okinawa Trench, and reaches the North Pacific through the coast of the Japanese Islands. The Kuroshio is like a large river in the ocean, 100-200 kilometers wide, 400-500 meters deep, with a flow speed of 3-4 kilometers per hour, and a flow rate equivalent to 20 times the total flow of rivers in the world.

The warm water of the Gulf Stream comes from the equatorial waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream begins to turn from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, so it is also called the Gulf Stream. It flows diagonally across the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. The Atlantic Current brings warmth to northwest Europe.

The temperature and salinity of the seawater in the Kuroshio are significantly higher than that of the seawater on both sides. From satellite photos, the color is also darker than the seawater on both sides. People sailing across the Kuroshio can also feel this unique movement of the Kuroshio if they observe carefully. The oceanographic community acknowledges that the Kuroshio was the first discovered by the Chinese. During the Ming and Qing dynasties of China, the Kingdom of Okinawa was a dependent state of China. Whenever the old king dies and a new king succeeds, he must be canonized by the Chinese emperor to be legal. The official ship of China's envoys set out from Fuzhou, using the Diaoyu Islands as navigation marks, and crossed the Kuroshio to Okinawa. When the ship of China's canonized envoys passes through the Kuroshio, a sea sacrifice ceremony will be held. In the "reports" and writings of Chinese envoys after returning to China, there are many records of the Kuroshio. At that time, China called the Kuroshio "Luoji". Oceanographers' monographs say that the Chinese have discovered the Kuroshio for thousands of years. About 3,000 years ago, King Wu of Zhou defeated Zhou and destroyed the Shang Dynasty. The survivors of the Shang Dynasty "did not eat Zhou Su" and fled overseas one after another. During this period, a large number of Shang Dynasty survivors sailed eastward, and it was possible to discover the Kuroshio.

The high-temperature and high-salt Kuroshio water carries huge heat and flows from south to north day and night, bringing rain and suitable climate to the coasts of Japan, North Korea and China.

Of course, in addition to warm currents, there are also cold currents. Cold currents flow from polar seas to equatorial seas. Coastal areas where cold currents flow have a much colder climate than coastal areas where warm currents flow. For example, the coastal areas of Russia's Far East are very different from the coastal areas of the same latitude in northwest Europe due to the influence of the Oyashio (Thousand Islands Cold Current), and are classified as severely cold areas.

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