ABSTRACT

Mode waters are characterized by a pycnostad (a layer of nearly vertically homogeneous water) that lies within or near the top of the permanent pycnocline and is found over a relatively large geographical area.  In the North Pacific, deep mixed layers are formed on both the southern and northern sides of the Kuroshio Extension in late winter, and remains in the subsurface in the following seasons as the Subtropical Mode Water and the Central Mode Water, respectively.  My talk is on the recent progresses in understanding the formation and circulation of these mode waters, based mainly on data from Argo profiling floats and shipboard observations.