title: Pacific western boundary currents and their roles in climate.
abstract: Pacific Ocean western boundary currents and the interlinked equatorial Pacific circulation system were among the first currents of these types to be explored by pioneering oceanographers. The widely accepted but poorly quantified importance of these currents-in processes such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Indonesian Throughflow-has triggered renewed interest. Ongoing efforts are seeking to understand the heat and mass balances of the equatorial Pacific, and possible changes associated with greenhouse-gas-induced climate change. Only a concerted international effort will close the observational, theoretical and technical gaps currently limiting a robust answer to these elusive questions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Dunxin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Physical Oceanography Laboratory, Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: 1] Physical Oceanography Laboratory, Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China [2] CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, Australia.
authors.forename: Wenju
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Mathews Building, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Alex Sen
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD), UMR5566-LEGOS, UPS (OMP-PCA), 31400 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganachaud
authors.affiliation: Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Institute at Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.
authors.forename: Arnold L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: Physical Oceanography Laboratory, Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
authors.forename: Xiaopei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Physical Oceanography Laboratory, Qingdao Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
authors.forename: Zhaohui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Shijian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, Australia.
authors.forename: Guojian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Qingye
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sprintall
authors.affiliation: IPRC, Department of Oceanography, SOEST, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA.
authors.forename: Tangdong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Center for Earth Information Science and Technology, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) 3173-25 Showa-machi Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kashino
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington 98115, USA.
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Kessler
mesh_terms: D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D059000:El Nino-Southern Oscillation; D006358:Hot Temperature; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D035501:Uncertainty; D014872:Water Movements