Oyashio Current

The Oyashio (Japanese亲 潮parents current) is a cold surface ocean current that flows in a southwesterly direction on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril over and east of Japan meets the foothills of the Kuroshio. Part of the colder and less saline Oyashio drops below the Kuroshio and flows further south. The other part of the Oyashio forms on the surface together with the Kuroshio foothills of the North Pacific Current ( North Pacific West Wind Drift ).

The area of the encounter of the two ocean currents around the Aleutian Islands is characterized by the frequent occurrence of fog banks. They arise when the relatively warm and therefore moist air over the more than 20 ° C warm Kuroshio through the cold waters of the Oyashio is cooled. The air can not store as much water, the excess moisture condenses in the form of mist then.

The Oyashio transports an average of about 15 million cubic meters of water per second, making it weaker than the Kuroshio. The flow intensity is subject to cyclical fluctuations. In winter and spring the flow with 20 - 30 Sverdrup (Sv ) stronger, whereas it strengthens falls in summer and autumn (only 3-4 Sv).

The Oyashio is a continuation of Kamtschatkastromes, but renamed after flowing through the Okhotsk Sea due to changed water characteristics and treated as a new flow.

The Oyashio is fed from cold upflowing deep water of the Arctic region and is therefore very rich in nutrients. This fact led to his Japanese name: oya (parent ), shio ( flow / current).