Loop Current

The Loop Current (English for loop current ) is a running clockwise warm ocean current in the Gulf of Mexico. He leads from the Yucatánstraße between the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba northward into the Gulf of Mexico and joins the Caribbean flow to the Florida current, the "official " starting point of the Gulf Stream. He transports warm water from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico.

The magnitude of the current varies in a seasonal cycle. It reaches a stretch in the width between about 200 and 300 kilometers and a depth between 80 and 150 meters. In extreme cases, it ranges north to the Mississippi Delta. To the south is almost a direct point - to-point connection between the Yucatánstrom and the Florida current. This Loop Current recent measurements according to the transported on average, a water volume of 24 Sverdrup ( million cubic meters per second). The near-surface flow velocity is near the Yucatánstroms at around 80 centimeters per second.

Impact on hurricanes

The Loop Current has a potentially large impact on the development of tropical cyclones which move across the Gulf of Mexico. These storms derive their energy from the warm surface waters of the sea, but the surface of the sea at the same time to dig very strong, so that usually gets much colder water from deeper layers to the surface, which would hamper the development of storms. However, the warm Loop Current extends to relatively large depth, causing the sea even in heavy plowing through hurricanes not significantly cools and consequently are these sufficient food for further amplification.