Changes in the Kuroshio and its extension under a warming climate in a climate model

An eddy permitting climate model results were used to study the response and driving mechanism of the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension (KE) under a global warming scenario. The model shows that the entire North Pacific subtropical gyre shifts poleward. Thus the Kuroshio between Taiwan and the southern coast of Japan, and its extension is also intensified as well. More importantly, the latitudinal band of the KE is shifted poleward. Such changes are largely associated with atmospheric change: weakening and poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation and subsequent poleward displacement of the Ferrel circulation. This leads to a weakening of ascending (descending) motion of air and a high (low) sea level pressure anomaly in the northwestern (southeastern) North Pacific, off the tropics.