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The influence of Gulf of Mexico Loop Current intrusion on the transport of the Florida Current

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Abstract

Based on an empirical orthogonal function analysis of satellite altimeter data, guidance from numerical model results, and CANEK transport estimates, we propose an index, based on differences in satellite-measured sea surface height anomalies, for measuring the influence of Gulf of Mexico Loop Current intrusion on vertically integrated transport variability through the Yucatan Channel. We show that the new index is significantly correlated at low frequencies (cut-off 120 days) with the cable estimates of transport between Florida and the Bahamas. We argue that the physical basis for the correlation is the geometric connectivity between the Yucatan Channel and the Straits of Florida.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Julio Sheinbaum for providing the observations taken during the CANEK program and Lisa Beal for providing the transport estimates from the “Explorer of the Seas” data set. Comments from two reviewers led to improvements in the manuscript and are acknowledged. This work has been funded by the NSERC/MARTEC/EC Industrial Research Chair awarded to RJG and JS as well as support to RJG from IFM-GEOMAR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4J1, Canada

    Yuehua Lin & Jinyu Sheng

  2. Leibniz Institut für Meereswissenschaften an der Universität Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Richard J. Greatbatch

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  1. Yuehua Lin
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  2. Richard J. Greatbatch
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  3. Jinyu Sheng
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Correspondence to Yuehua Lin.

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Responsible Editor: John Wilkin

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Lin, Y., Greatbatch, R.J. & Sheng, J. The influence of Gulf of Mexico Loop Current intrusion on the transport of the Florida Current. Ocean Dynamics 60, 1075–1084 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-010-0308-0

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