Hmmm, I know about the cold Alaskan current, don’t know about the Japanese current unless that’s the warm current that goes north from Japan to Alaska and then becomes the cold Alaskan current going south. If so, I would have thought the prevailing current there would be the southbound, cold Alaskan current.
The water was, indeed, cold. You always needed a wet suit to do anything under the boat. The cold water kept the barnacles to a minimum when compared to Florida, for example.
very warm since Fukishima :)
Those currents are out in the ocean - Point Roberts on the Strait of Georgia in the Salish Sea. Even in the dead of winter water temps are in the mid 40s so it’s pretty mild, but during what are warm Summer days inland, it can still be cool near the water. What that area does get is Frazier River outflow when there’s high pressure east of the Cascades/Coast Range and very cold and dense Arctic air from the BC interior runs down the river valleys and into the Vancouver/Bellingham area (it’s the same situation with the Columbia in Portland). When it slides below a moist south-westerly from Hawaii there is the potential for damaging ice storms. Seattle is generally spared this due to the Puget Sound Convergence, where westerlies are split by the Olympic Range with half the winds coming down the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the other half coming up the Chehalis Gap. They generally meet north of Seattle and create a barrier to outflow from the northern interior. Although when the Alberta Clipper meets the Pineapple Express further to the west, there is the potential for heavy lowland snow throughout the Puget Sound region. Thus ends today’s lesson in Puget Sound weather.
A lot of tsunami debris from Japan make its way to our coasts. So there’s a current.
And as I understand it, the Japanese used to use glass balls for floats for their fishing nets back in the day. They can still occasionally be found up in Alaska.