Project Director: Villy Kourafalou

Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program

Funding Cycles: Understanding Gulf Ocean Systems Grants 2

Description: Understanding the dynamics of the western Caribbean Sea and southern part of the Yucatan Channel is critical for predicting the Loop Current System’s behavior. This project will quantify improvements in prediction skill when these Caribbean Sea observations are incorporated into forecasting models. Observations and high-resolution model simulations will provide a more detailed, objective description about the size, magnitude, and pathway of warm, circular currents (known as anticyclonic eddies) passing through the Yucatan Channel; and their relation to the anticyclonic eddies evolving inside the Gulf of Mexico.