*** Welcome to piglix ***

Tsushima Straits


Tsushima Strait (対馬海峡 Tsushima Kaikyō?, also known as the Tsu Shima Strait or Tsu-Shima Strait); (Korean: 쓰시마 해협 sseu-si-ma hae-hyeop) is the eastern channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.

The Tsushima Strait is the broader eastern channel to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island, with the Japanese islands of Honshu to the east and northeast, and Kyushu and the Gotō Islands to the south and southeast. It is narrowest south-east of Shimono-shima, the south end of Tsushima Island proper, constricted there by nearby Iki Island, which lies wholly in the strait near the tip of Honshu. South of that point Japan's Inland Sea mingles its waters through the narrow Kanmon Strait between Honshu and Kyushu, with those of the Tsushima Strait, making for some of the busiest sea lanes in the world.

The strait measures approximately 100 kilometres along Tsushima Island and is about 65 kilometres wide at its narrowest. The strait has a depth of about 140 metres and is bounded by the Tsushima Islands to the west through north (of Gotō Islands). Nearby Iki Island lies in the strait about 50 kilometres towards Kyūshū from the southern tip of Kamino-shima (South Island).

The Tsushima Current, a warm branch of the Kuroshio (Japan Current) passes through the strait. Originating along the Japanese islands, this current passes through the Sea of Japan then a branch eventually flowing into the Pacific Northern Pacific Ocean via the Tsugaru Strait south of Hokkaido. Another branch continues far northward and divides along either shore of Sakhalin Island; eventually flowing into the Sea of Okhotsk via the La Perouse Strait north of Hokkaido and via the Strait of Tartary into the Sea of Okhotsk north of Sakhalin Island near Vladivostok.


...
Wikipedia

...