Structure and Variability of the Loop Current along the Yucatan Slope and Shelf Break.

Yucatan Current and Loop Current variability is investigated using data from an array of moorings that was deployed during 2006-2011 at the western Yucatan Channel and two other strategic cross-sections further north over the Campeche Bank, where the core and western edge of the currents are usually located. Measurements show the cores of the Yucatan Current and Loop Current have a more offshore (onshore) position in summer (winter-spring) suggesting seasonality and a relation to transport variations. Some eastward displacements of the currents are associated with periods of positive horizontal shear (cyclonic vorticity anomalies) propagating northward from the Caribbean coast of Mexico into the Gulf. Ten of the thirteen Loop Current eddies released between 2006 and 2011 were found to be clearly related to these propagating cyclonic anomalies that after crossing the Yucatan Channel produce intense pulses of eddy kinetic energy in the mooring sections downstream. Current structure and variability above and below 1000 m depth have very different characteristics. Diffferences are also found between western and eastern mooring measurements at similar depths. Wind forcing, coastally trapped waves and small scale frontal eddies appear to be the source of this east-west asymmetry.