ReadMe.txt:

This file contains GOES infrared imagery of SST in the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean Sea. The individual jpeg images are daily composites that span the interval July 1, 2005 through October 30, 2005. This year was one in which a number of intense hurricanes moved over Gulf of Mexico and near the broad West Florida continental shelf. The most prominent hurricanes are shown by tracks in files labeled e.g., Dennis_track.gif, etc.  This collection of images provides an opportunity to contrast the shallow water response to a hurricane with the deep water response. 

Gulf of Mexico bathymetry is shown in a single image, NGofM_bathy.jpg  Notice that the inshore half (roughly) of the West Florida shelf generally cools less during a hurricane passage than does the deeper, offshore portion. Florida Bay at the extreme southern end of the West Florida shelf, is uniformly shallow. 

The end of this period includes the start of the seasonal cooling cycle. Shallow coastal regions along the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico cool quite dramatically beginning in the second week of October, an obvious indication that heat loss to the atmosphere does indeed cool shallow water columns rapidly compared with a deeper water column.  The metric upper ocean heat content would be highly relevant to forecasting this sort of seasonal cooling phenomenon. 

Some noteworthy year days (landfall on US or Mexico)

Cindy   186
Dennis  191
Emily   201
Katrina 241
Rita    267
Wilma   297


The SST images were acquired from the NASA/JPL POET data server. Track images were acquired from http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/2005/  The bathymetry image was produced by NOAA.  

This research was supported by the US Office of Naval Research. 

Jim Price, WHOI, jprice@whoi.edu, November 10, 2008.  
