The figure on the right is the first Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) wide swath image of the Kuroshio Current inverted to radar Doppler velocity by J. Johannessen and Fabrice Collard, as part of the Dragon 2 programme. This image reveals the structure of the Kuroshio Current off the Chinese coast with speeds up to 1,5 metres per second.

By comparing the ASAR image to the sea-surface temperature model (left), scientists were able to see clearly how the Kuroshio Current moves warm water from the tropical Pacific towards the coast of Japan. The radial Doppler velocity map shows the strong southwest-to-northeast motion associated with the path shown in the sea-surface temperature model, confirming the velocity pattern associated with the current.