4B Gulf of Mexico/ Cuba 



Sayed Z. El-Sayed 



Takashi Ichiye 



and 



Charles C. Trees 



Department of Oceanography 

 Texas A&M University 

 College Station, Texas 



The Gulf of Mexico is a semi-enclosed basin with inflow through the 

 Yucatan Channel and outflow through the Florida Straits. The most 

 prominent single physical feature of the gulf is the Loop Current. The 

 Loop Current's path and extent of intrusion into the gulf are highly time- 

 dependent, with apparent annual cycles (Leipper, 1970) and significant 

 variability in the year-to-year pattern (Maul, 1977). Mesoscale eddies 

 (rings), which are the second major physical feature in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 are pinched off the Loop Current and drift westward. 



The total pigment concentrations (chlorophyll a + phaeopigment) in the 

 Gulf of Mexico exhibit marked contrast between inshore and offshore 

 waters; the offshore waters were characterized by Bogdanov et al. (1968), 

 and El-Sayed ( 1 972), as being highly oligotrophic as compared to the more 

 productive neritic regions. 



67 



