Loop current

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Loop current

The Loop Current ( English for loop current ) is in clockwise running warm ocean current in the Gulf of Mexico . It leads from the Yucatán Strait between the Mexican peninsula Yucatán and Cuba northwards into the Gulf of Mexico and connects the Caribbean Current with the Florida Current , the “official” starting point of the Gulf Stream . It transports warm water from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico.

The size of the current fluctuates in a seasonal cycle. It reaches an expansion in width between around 200 and 300 kilometers and a depth between 80 and 150 meters. In extreme cases, it extends north to the Mississippi Delta . Towards the south there is an almost direct point-to-point connection between the Yucatán and Florida currents. According to recent measurements, the Loop Current transports an average of 24 Sverdrup (million cubic meters per second) of water . The near-surface flow velocity in the vicinity of the Yucatán Current is around 80 centimeters per second.

Effects on hurricanes

The Loop Current has a potentially large impact on the development of tropical cyclones that sweep across the Gulf of Mexico. These storms derive their power from the warm surface water of the sea, but at the same time churn the surface of the sea very strongly, so that normally much colder water from deeper layers comes to the surface, which would slow down the development of the storms. However, the warm loop current extends to a relatively great depth, which means that the sea surface does not cool down significantly even when hurricanes are plowed through strongly and consequently gives them sufficient food for further reinforcement.

See also

literature

  • G. Shanmugam: Deep-water processes and facies models. Implications for sandstone petroleum reservoirs. Elsevier, Amsterdam a. a. 2006, ISBN 0-444-52161-5 , p. 95 ( Handbook of Petroleum Exploration and Production 5), ( limited online version in the Google Book Search USA ).
  • Alan R. Longhurst: Ecological geography of the sea. 2nd edition. Elsevier, Amsterdam a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-12-455521-1 , pp. 190–191 ( restricted online version in Google Book Search USA ).

Web links