Oceanography in Action

Technicians on the Taiwanese research vessel Ocean Researcher III retrieve a turbulence profiler from the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Taiwan. In a project sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, WHOI physical oceanographer Louis St. Laurent is collaborating with researchers from National Taiwan University led by physical oceanographer Ming-Huei Chang to study turbulence in the wake of Taiwan’s Green Island (pictured), which is directly in the flow of the Kuroshio Current. This turbulence mixes the warm, salty water of the Kuroshio with cooler, fresher water along Taiwan, affecting everything from local weather to fisheries.(Photo by Sean P. Whelan, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)