CO2 in ocean water. As CO2 levels continue to increase in the atmosphere, so does CO2 uptake in the Kuroshio, making this seasonality more dramatic. Climate implications Western boundary currents are integrated parts in the world's climatic balance. The Kuroshio Current plays an important role in influencing regional climate and weather patterns mainly through the input of warm waters from lower latitudes northward into the western edge of the Pacific basin. Along with the other western boundary currents in the world, the Kuroshio Current is subject to seasonal changes that manifest in different flow rates, bifurcation latitudes, and water salinity. Circulation within the Pacific Ocean is largely influenced by this northerly transport of warm salty water north along the Western boundary, concurrently providing structure to the western edge of the North Pacific Gyre. The resulting heat fluxes in this area represent some of the largest heat exchanges from ocean to atmosphere within the entire Pacific Basin, being more pronounced during the winter season. Heat transfer from the surface ocean to the atmosphere creates unstable atmospheric conditions, which is to say that air parcels and clouds derived or influenced by this process are warmer than the surrounding air, ultimately rising and enhancing chances of precipitation or shifting weather. In this way, monsoonal rain events and common through the summertime and typhoon storms are enhanced as they pass over the current. The climate of many Asian countries has been affected by the distribution of heat by these processes for millions of years, changing wind patterns, precipitation, and mixing warm tropical waters into the Sea of Japan. Mode water formation As the Kuroshio Current separates from the equatorial current and flows northward, warm water from the Western Pacific Warm Pool segues into the northwest Pacific Ocean Basin. Principal heat flux in the Kuroshio occurs via the Kuroshio Extension between 132°E and 160°E and 30°N to 35°N, depending on the latitude where the extension splits off from the Kuroshio Current along the coast of Japan. The process of warm water injection into the open ocean plays an important role in the formation of North Pacific Subtropical Mode waters and the regulation of sea surface temperatures, affecting moisture transport across the western Pacific Basin. North Pacific subtropical mode waters are created when Kuroshio Extension waters lose large amounts of heat and moisture to the cold and dry northerly winds during boreal wintertime months, creating dense