Warm Eddy in Gulf Could Spell Trouble
May 30, 2024
A large eddy of warm water swirling in the Gulf of Mexico may transform storms this summer into powerful hurricanes, an NPR station in South Florida reports. The eddy spun off the Loop Current that continually circulates in the Gulf. In Issues, Virginia Gewin details how a group of international researchers have been working since 2018 to improve predictions of the current’s behavior. “Timely predictions,” she writes, “could boost safety for oil and gas work, marine traffic, and search and rescue operations in the Gulf, while also improving forecasts of hurricanes, fisheries productivity, climate change-induced coastal flooding, and sea level rise.”