| Based on the Argos drifter buoy and satellite altimeter data, the sea-surface current fields in the Kuroshio Current (KC) and adjacent regions are derived and the seasonal variability is investigated. By using a method of subsidiary lines, this paper extracts the axis of the KC and studies the primary variability periods at different section of the KC. The POM model is used to simulate the current, temperature and salinity fields in the Northwest Pacific Ocean (NPO), analyze the mechanism of the warm eddy at the east of the Taiwan Island (TI) and the effects of the KC on the northward current in the Taiwan Strait (TS), and discuss the effect of low-frequency variability of the KC on the current in the TS.The current fields derived from the Argos drifter buoy and satellite altimeter data show an obvious seasonal variabilities: The KC intrusion in the Luzon straight (LS) almost only occurs in fall and winter; There is an anti-cyclonic eddy exists at the east of the TI only in summer; There is a branch from the KC at the northeast of the TI intruding on the shelf of the East China Sea (ECS) in all seasons except summer. In spring and winter, this branch turns clockwise and flows back to the KC. In fall, it divides into two currents, one turns anticlockwise toward the TI, the other flows along isobath to the ECS; There is a branch from the KC flows to the Tsushima Strait at the south of Japan, which is strongest in winter while weakest in summer. In spring and autumn the mixing water from the shelf of the ECS joins into this branch and divides another clockwise arm at the west of Kyushu. All of these show the fact that the Tsushima Current mainly derives from the branch of the KC in winter, while origins from the mixing water on the shelf of the ECS in summer; There is an anticyclone eddy at the east of the Amami Islands in all seasons except in winter, a branch of which flows to the south of Kyushu and adds into the KC there. And the location of...
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