A looping current
Image of the Month - April 2003
Sea Surface height in the Gulf of Mexico. A warm eddy ("hill") is forming, breaking off the main current anf going deeper in the Gulf. See the animation (Animated Gif, 1.05 Mb) (Credits Cnes/CLS)
The Loop Current, in the Gulf of Mexico, is something of an original. This warm current enters the Gulf by the strait between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba, and makes a loop that goes more or less deep. Sometimes, this loop breaks, and forms a lone eddy (or ring). This could seem just a curiosity. However, it can have real impact, especially on hurricane intensification (see April 2001 Image of the Month: Tracking hurricanes), and on navigation. Moreover, the Gulf of Mexico is an oil exploitation area, that oceanic perturbations like these eddies can seriously disorganize, or even make hazardous.
See also:
- Applications: Mesoscale circulation
- Applications: Hurricanes
Websites on this subject:
- How the eddies are created (Quarterdeck magazine, Texas A&M University)
- Loop Current (Micom model)
News
- Search.
- Front-page news.
Image of the month .- 2024 .
- 2023 .
- 2022 .
- 2021 .
- 2020 .
- 2019 .
- 2018 .
- 2017 .
- 2016 .
- 2015 .
- 2014 .
- 2013 .
- 2012 .
- 2011 .
- 2010 .
- 2009 .
- 2008 .
- 2007 .
- 2006 .
- 2005 .
- 2004 .
- 2003 .
- Dec. 2003: Warm waters.
- Nov. 2003: Aral Sea: nothing new under the Sun.
- Oct. 2003: Black Sea forecasting.
- Sep. 2003: Scaling the waves.
- Aug. 2003: Sea salt seen by altimeters.
- Jul. 2003: Currents steered by gaps in the ridges.
- Jun. 2003: Combining sensors.
- May 2003: Flying tandem.
- Apr. 2003: A looping current.
- Mar. 2003: Africa's Great Lakes.
- Feb. 2003: Ocean currents.
- Jan. 2003: Altimetry and phytoplankton.
- 2002 .
- 2001 .
- 2000 .
- 1999 .
- 1998 .
- Press review.
- Operational news and status .
- News from CTOH .
- Events calendar.
