Surface currents in the Caribbean Sea as deduced from Lagrangian observations

Abstract

The results of a satellite tracked drifting buoy experiment conducted in the Caribbean Sea from October 1975 through June 1976 are presented. The buoy trajectories suggest that the Aves Rise, Beata Ridge, and Nicaraguan Rise are regions where considerable mesoscale variability occurs in the surface flow. The variability is in the form of current deflections; small diameter eddies ranging in size from 20 to 100 km; large amplitude meanders, with amplitudes greater than 150 km; and large diameter eddies, with diameters greater than 200 km which form on and near these rises and ridges. In the central Caribbean, where the topographic relief is not as dramatic, the flow is predominantly zonal. Intensifications in the surface flow occur off the coast of Colombia, south of the Nicaraguan Rise, and south of the Yucatan Strait.