On 27 Mar, 22:03, James Brown
wrote:
In message , Norman
writes

http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/data/sst/a....3.25.2010.gif

Shows a quite cold pool in the Gulf of Mexico - but with a warm centre - is
this to do with undersea contours or something else I wonder. It shows up
very well on IR images from the GOES E satellite.

This is the so-called "Loop Current". It's a common feature in the Gulf of
Mexico. There's a huge number of references available if you Google "Gulf of
Mexico Loop Current".

Thank you so much for that Norman - quite a wealth of material there,

Let me know what you find out. I got turned off when I saw the word
anomaly.

This is from one page:

"…if the water is still warm at lower depths, then water being pulled
to the surface remains warm, and the hurricane can increase in
intensity if other atmospheric conditions are also conducive to
strengthening.

Meteorologists look for areas of deep warm water of at least 26
degrees Celsius (79°F). A continuous supply of warm water is one of
several critical factors in enabling hurricanes to intensify beyond
the initial level of a major hurricane (Category 3)"

[So how does the water get heated to that depth in a current doing 4
or 5 knots?

The temperatures in the link vary from -3 to 1 degree Centigrade. Not
a lot for a current that fuels northern Europe. Is that what they
meant by anomaly or was it just the usual lack of imagination?

North America has been subject to severe floods for a while now. And
with the thaw the Mississippi must have been an active part of all
this.]

"If the storm moves fast it may not intensify to a grand scale.
However, since Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the 5 hurricanes to make it to
Cat 5 strength, 3 of them went straight through the Loop Current (this
isn't counting the Cat 3 and 4 storms.)"

So it all depends on, well.... that depends...?