Gulf of Mexico Home Page
Welcome to the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics (CCAR) Gulf of Mexico Home Page! In this document you will find historical and near real-time analysis of satellite altimetry over the Gulf of Mexico from NASA's TOPEX altimeter. When possible, TOPEX altimeter data has been blended with the European Space Agency's ERS-1 altimeter data to produce the most accurate maps of sea surface topography in the Gulf of Mexico to date.
Near-real-time TOPEX data from the JPL Quick Look Bulletin Board are processed as soon as a complete cycle becomes available. This product is currently being used for operational monitoring of the Gulf of Mexico.
Now you can view SSH variability (relative to a 2 year TOPEX mean surface) in any region of the world through this Interactive Data Viewer Program. Options include regional analysis, colormaps, contouring, bathymetry editing, and more!
Monthy MPEG movies of the Gulf of Mexico sea surface topography are available for viewing. Your interface requires an MPEG viewer and each file is approximately 300 Kbytes. To view a movie select the Movie Selection Interface. The movies currently available are from January through December 1994. The recent TOPEX data shows the shedding of Eddy Yucatan from the Loop Current in September 1994. The TOPEX data used to create these movies are the sea surface height with respect to a corrected Rapp mean sea surface. A model mean has been added to show more realistic circulation of the Loop Current inflow through the Yucatan Channel and outflow through the Florida Straits. Satellite-tracked drifter locations within five days of the analysis date are also plotted on each movie frame. The sea surface height contour increment in the animations are 10 cm. Black contours are greater than or equal to zero. White contours are negative.
A complete MPEG movie of a blended analysis of ERS-1 and TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data may be viewed by selecting the ERS-1 and TOPEX/Poseidon Movie. Please be forewarned that this is a very large file (3.4 Mbytes)!!! This movie highlights the high resolution sea surface topography that may be estimated using altimeter data from two satellites flying in tandem.
More movies can be found in the Gulf of Mexico Movie home page.
During the Fall of 1994, the near real-time TOPEX data were routinely compared with analysis from other observational tools being used to monitor the circulation in the Gulf of Mexico. AVHRR imagery from NOAA's polar orbiting satellites were collected by the Earth Scan Laboratory at the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), Louisiana State University (LSU), and processed to locate the thermal fronts along the edge of the Loop Current and its associated warm and cold eddies. To futher assist in detecting and tracking the eddies, satellite-tracking drifting buoys were released under the direction of Tom Berger of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) . Both of these Gulf of Mexico research programs are sponsored by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of Interior.
To see comparisons of these observational products, please browse the following images:
NOAA AVHRR images from the Earth Scan Laboratory at the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), Louisiana State University (LSU) and frontal analyses derived from these images overlaid on the TOPEX topography are included, respectively, in this list:
For additional NOAA AVHRR images check out the Earth Scan Laboratory at the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), Louisiana State University (LSU).
The CCAR TOPEX/Poseidon Home Page is online.
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