98 

 30° 

 N 



°W. 



28° 



26° - 



96 



— r 



TEXAS 



MAY 1962 



J*S& 



H8M 183M 



BROWNSVILLE 

 \ 



GALVESTON 



\ 



NEW ORLEANS 



r 



\ 



WIND VECTORS 



A 



1 2 



i.i.i 



BEAUFORTS 



30° 



28 c 



26 c 



30° 



30' 

 N. 



TEXAS 



MAY 1963 



I 2 

 L_. i ■ ' 



BEAUFORTS 



98° 96° 94° 92° 90° 



Figure 4.— Surface circulation deduced from recoveries of drift bottles released in May 1962 and 1963 In the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. 

 (Arrows indicate direction of flow; numbers indicate average km/day). 



day with an overall average of about 6. In general veloc- 

 ities of surface currents decreased from March to May as 

 currents became more onshore. 



With few exceptions, winds were generally similar be- 

 tween years over the study area, but a marked seasonal 

 shift in direction was apparent. Resultant wind vectors 

 indicated that the winds became more southerly or on- 

 shore during this 3-mo period and may account for the 

 general weakening of the east to west flow of surface 



waters off Louisiana and east Texas as well as a shift in 

 surface currents to the north off south Texas. With the 

 exception of May 1962, wind force was greatest at 

 Brownsville. 



June-July. — Following the March-April transitional 

 period, the dominant east to west flow of January- 

 February had in essence reversed (Fig. 5). Currents 

 flowed northward along the south Texas coast, whereas 



