Loop Current re-alignment reduces threat of Oil to Florida Keys and Atlantic Coast

Earlier this week we showed how NASA was keeping on eye on the Gulf of Mexico’s Loop Current.  Today, Dr. Jeff Master’s of Weather Underground explains how a major re-alignment of the Loop Current is greatly reducing the threat of oil to the Florida Keys and Atlantic Coast.

A major ocean current re-alignment is underway the Gulf of Mexico right now, and the new configuration that is developing greatly reduces the threat of oil entering the Loop Current and affecting the Florida Keys and U.S. East Coast. As I explain in my Loop Current Primer, the Loop Current is an ocean current that transports warm Caribbean water through the Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Mexico. The current flows northward into the Gulf of Mexico, then loops southeastward just south of the Florida Keys (where it is called the Florida Current), and past the western Bahamas. Here, the waters of the Loop Current flow northward along the U.S. coast and become the Gulf Stream. With current speeds of about 0.8 m/s, the Loop Current is one of the fastest currents in the Atlantic Ocean. Every 6 – 11 months, the top bulge of the Loop Current cuts off, forming a 250-mile diameter circular eddy in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. This clockwise-spinning eddy is filled with warm water from the Loop Current, and is called a Loop Current Eddy. The main body of the Loop Current then takes a fairly direct eastward path from the Yucatan Channel to the Florida Keys.

Read Dr. Master’s full blog post HERE and thanks to gCaptain forum member “Fredwx” for starting the discussion on this issue in the gCaptain forum.

Above image via Weather Underground

Updated: February 5, 2026 (Originally published May 28, 2010)

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