Meeting Abstracts
Intensification of the Loop Current Frontal Eddies along the eastern edge of the Loop Current based on drifter data
Matthieu Le Henaff, Villy H. Kourafalou, Rick Lumpkin
RSMAS/CIMAS, University of Miami
(Abstract received 05/15/2012 for session A)
ABSTRACT
As the Loop Current (LC) extends within the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), frontal cyclones start to form along its edge. Past satellite observations of Sea Surface Temperature indicated that these Loop Current Frontal Eddies (LCFEs) are larger north and east of the LC, compared to west of the LC. Once LCFEs have
grown, they are able to interact with the LC itself, facilitating the formation and separation of a large, warm‐core anticyclonic eddy that then drifts westward in the GoM interior.
Using historical drifter data from the Global Drifter Program, we show that LCFE intensification takes place in specific locations of the Eastern GoM. One of the mechanisms suggested is topographic control. The drifter data are also employed to study the characteristics of LCFEs and their interaction with the LC, based on individual trajectories.