SUBTROPICAL MODE WATER

Nearly isothermal water between the upper thermocline and the main thermocline in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean makes a temperature-salinity mode in the volume distribution. The water is the same as the so-called 18°C Water in the North Atlantic. The name Subtropical Mode Water is proposed for this water type. Characteristics of the Mode Water are uniform over an extensive area of the North Pacific. The Water is carried not only westward by the North Equatorial Current and eastward by the Kuroshio but also westward by the westward undercurrent which is often covered by the eastward Subtropical Countercurrent in the anterior region of the North Pacific. © 1969.