Effect of solar activity

Uda (1962) noticed that most of the years of cold (warm) oceanic temperatures in the area east of Japan were correlated with the periods of minimum (maximum) sunspot activity. Rule 65 confirms this relationship for the period 1961-2006. In 2007, however, the temperature sharply increased and remained above normal through 2008, despite the low level of solar activity. Solar cycle 24 is expected to peak in late 2011 or mid-2012, and based on rule 65, the temperature east of Japan should follow the cycle.
Pokudov (1978) examined a relationship between solar activity and meandering of the Kuroshio Current.  He found that when the solar activity is high, the Kuroshio axis tends to be farther south, with the higher probability to form a meander.