Understanding and Predicting the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current Critical Gaps and Recommendations (2018) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: Fundamental Understanding of the Loop Current System
Appendix B: Fundamental Understanding of the Loop Current System
Pages 87-92
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From page 87... ...
Thus, understanding the LC's behavior as it enters through the Yucatan Channel and exits through the Florida Straits is important for maritime commerce, fisheries, oil and gas operations, farming, and weather prediction. Observations, particularly the nearly continuous ones, over the recent era of satellite altimetry measurements show a complex set of behaviors, including periods of time when the LC is confined to the region of inflow and outflow, versus other times when the LC extends far into the Gulf of Mexico.
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From page 88... ...
, it was found that the current leaps over the gap, except for a small portion that leaks through, bends around, and then exits the gap. For larger gap widths, the boundary current enters the gap and flows west as a zonal jet eventually returns as an oppositely directed zonal jet exits the gaps and flows north.
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From page 89... ...
Once vorticity advection overcomes friction, the excess vorticity is dissipated by eddy shedding. With LCE shedding shown by these previous works to be a consequence of planetary beta (due to relative vorticity becoming increasingly anticyclonic as the LC moves northward)
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From page 90... ...
Thus, regions of steep bathymetric topography will result in the flow field tending to be oriented parallel to the isobaths and in the propagation of TRWs away from FIGURE B.1 Satellite altimetry (AVISO) derived SSH and associated estimated surface geostrophic currents for the eastern Gulf of Mexico showing a partially intruded Loop Current followed by a cyclonic and an anticyclonic feature.
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From page 91... ...
considered TRWs to be implied in numerical model simulations and in situ observations, but only in the deeper portions of the Gulf of Mexico due to their model resolution. TRWs may also occur along the escarpments, and, with TRWs propagating with shallow isobaths to the right (in the Northern Hemisphere)
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