Hurricane Ivan's Impact along the northern Gulf Of Mexico

Just over a year after the landfall of Hurricane Ivan, scientists have now had an opportunity to evaluate a variety of oceanographic and geologic responses to this storm. Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina,and Rita are among the most powerful hurricanes recently to enter the Gulf of Mexico. Although it weakened from a very powerful Category 5 hurricane to a Category 3 before making landfall along the Alabama coast, Hurricane Ivan devastated the coasts of northwestern Florida and Alabama on 16 September 2004. This article summarizes what researchers have learned about Hurricane Ivan as it moved into the Gulf and made landfall along the northeastern Gulf of Mexico coast. The article focuses on storm meteorology, sea state,shelf circulation, and sediment transport on the shelf and along the coast.