Shallow currents in the caribbean sea and gulf of mexico as observed with satellite tracked drifters
Kinder, T.H.
Bulletin of Marine Science 33(2): 239-246
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0007-4977
Accession: 006409353
Four satellite-tracked drifters released in the southeastern Caribbean Sea during Nov. 1977 revealed features of the shallow (100-m depth) circulation. All drifters showed meanders and loops, and 2 showed a large counterclockwise eddy in the Golfo de los Mosquitos. Two drifters passed through the Straits of Yucatan and showed a double-lobed northward penetration of the Loop Current. Within the Caribbean, scales of meanders and loops were about 100 km near inflow passages but scales were larger (200-500 km) farther downstream. Taken together, the drifter tracks showed important spatial and temporal variability that is not part of the classical depictions of the Caribbean circulation.