A 34-YEAR HISTORICAL AND ALTIMETRIC PERSPECTIVE OF LOOP CURRENT INTRUSION AND EDDY SEPARATION IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

摘要

Observational records spanning the last 34 years arernreanalyzed to identify Loop Current intrusion eventsrnleading to eddy separation. Satellite observations,rnincluding satellite altimetry, ocean color, and searnsurface temperature, facilitate this reanalysis and allowrnnearly continuous monitoring of Loop Current intrusionrnand eddy separation from the late 1970s onward. Ourrnreanalysis finds 49 eddy separation events in the 34-yearrntime period from July 1978 through June 2012. Inrncontrast to earlier published records, there is arnpronounced variation in the frequency of eddyrnseparation as a function of season even in the timernperiod before continuous altimetric sampling becamernavailable over 20 years ago.