Shallow and Deep Current Variability in the Southwestern Japan/East Sea Researchers D. Randolph Watts Graduate School of Oceanography University of Rhode Island South Ferry Road Narragansett, RI 02882 Tel: 401-874-6507 rwatts@gso.uri.edu Mark Wimbush Graduate School of Oceanography University of Rhode Island South Ferry Road Narragansett, RI 02882 Tel: 401-874-6515 mwimbush@gso.uri.edu William Teague Naval Research Laboratory Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-5004 teague@nrlssc.navy.mil Award Numbers N00014-98-1-0246, N00014-99-1-0595, N00014-04-1-0658, N00014-98-WX3-0245, and N00014-00-WX2-0337 Project Overview The scientific objective of this project is to understand the physics of the mesoscale circulation of the Japan/East Sea in the southwestern region. The goals of this project are: Observe the time-varying transports in the branches of the Tsushima Current Produce daily maps from observations of the upper layer circulation and path variability of the Offshore Branch and the East Korean Warm Current with mesoscale resolution Understand the physical coupling between the shallow and deep currents and eddies within this region which contains large-amplitude meanders, Subpolar Front loop formation, and ring pinch-off At intermediate levels, quantify cross-frontal and vertical fluxes associated with mesoscale processes in the East Korean Warm Current In-depth Overview (PDF document)