On the surface currents of the Caribbean Sea

Velocity observations from near surface drifters made between 1996 and 2001 were used to construct surface circulation maps of the Caribbean Sea. In the Venezuela Basin the strongest westward currents (0.3 ms −1 ) are found south of 14°N and at 17°N. Two jets occur over the deep gaps of the Jamaica Ridge and move northwestward across the Cayman Basin. The two jets feed a current that impinges on Yucatan, slows down while turning north and accelerates again to become the Yucatan Current. A cyclonic gyre occurs in the southern Colombia Basin, with mean currents along the south coast in excess of 0.7 m s −1 . To the east, the gyre is highly variable. Eddy motions dominate most of the Eastern Caribbean as well as the eastern Yucatan Basin, where the average surface circulation is not well defined.