An equatorial
countercurrent
flows in the opposite direction of the adjacent currents
of the
major gyres
north and south of the equator.
In the north, the Kuroshio current flows eastwards
across the Pacific from Japan
to the coast of North America,
where it turns south as the California
current, then flows west again as the north
equatorial
current. Small counterclockwise gyres
exist in the Gulf of Alaska (Alaska current),
and in the northwestern Pacific basin
, where the flow near the Asian coast is known as
the Oyashio current.
The Southern Pacific Ocean has a counterclockwise subtropical gyre
, consisting of the westward
flowing South equatorial
current in the north, the southwards flowing Australia
current, the
Antarctic
circumpolar current that flows east, and the Peru Current that flows northwards
near South America.
The above description is only a very generalized overview, numerous other small current
systems are found throughout the Pacific Ocean basin
and its marginal seas.
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