Thermohaline staircases in the Warm-Core Ring off Cape Erimo,Hokkaido and their fluxes due to salt finger

Thermohaline staircases off Cape Erimo, Hokkaido are described and their physical properties are compared with those in other seas. The mean fluxes for heat and salt across the interface induced by salt finger were estimated as 105 cal cm^–2d^–1, and 0.03 g cm^–2d^–1, respectively. These values were in the same order as those in Caribbean Sea. The effective eddy diffusivities were also in the same order as the Caribbean ones. This suggests that the double-diffusive convection plays on important role on the water mass conversions occurring in the interfrontal zone between the Oyashio and the Kuroshio Waters.