91° W. 



90° 



89° 



30' 

 N. 



SURFACE SALINITY DISTRIBUTION 

 AND STATION PATTERN -NOV 9-16,1966 



(7oo) 



29< 



28' 



\ A" 



28° 



91° 



90° 



89° 



88° 



Figure 24.- 



-The surface salinity distribution around the Mississippi Delta, November 9-16, 1966. Note the eddy northeast 



of the delta. 



because of almost continuously poor weather, 

 only 87 shallow and Z deep planktonhauls were 

 completed. 



The distribution of surface temperature and 

 circulation, as inferred from the surface den- 

 sity distribution, are presented in figure 25. 

 Warm water (more than 24° C; 75.2° F.)from 

 the Caribbean Sea enters the Gulf along the 

 western side of the Yucatan Straits and nnoves 

 north to about lat, 28° N. This flow then turns 

 sharply to the south, and after following a 

 rather irregular path, leaves the Gulf through 

 the Florida Straits. These currents are the 



nnain driving force for the circulation through- 

 out most of the Gulf. 



Some of the Caribbean water entering the 

 Gulf returns as countercurrents, in a series 

 of eddies, on the west of the Yucatan Straits. 

 Other Caribbean water encounters an ap- 

 parent countercurrent fronn the Florida Straits 

 off the coast of Cuba, thereby setting up a 

 clockwise-rotating eddy defined by the "C"- 

 shaped cell of water warmer than 26° C. 

 (78,8° F.). The flow from the western edge of 

 this eddy to about the center of the Yucatan 

 Straits is south, toward the Caribbean. The 



34 



