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| Titel |
Surface circulation of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico using 13 years of satellite altimetry data |
| VerfasserIn |
A. Alvera-Azcárate, A. Barth, R. H. Weisberg |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250029818
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The surface circulation of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is studied using thirteen
years of satellite altimetry data. In the Caribbean Sea, processes at several temporal scales are
analyzed: the Caribbean eddies and meanders characteristics, the annual cycle and its
variability through time, and the interannual variability, with a cycle of about 4 years
affecting the SSH slope across the current and hence the intensity of the Caribbean Current.
Our analyses suggest that this cycle is related to changes in the wind intensity, wind curl and
El Niño Southern Oscillation.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the variability of the Loop Current is studied. We analyze the
timing of anticyclonic eddy detachment from the Loop Current, the relation between
the size of these eddies and the period between detachments, and the intrusion
of the Loop Current into the Gulf of Mexico. A series of extreme Loop Current
intrusions into the Gulf of Mexico, when the current is observed as far as 92-W, are
described. The frequency of such events appears to have increased in recent years, with
only one event happening from 1992 to 2002 (in 1993) versus three from 2002 to
2006. |
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