These GIF images show experimental maps of radial surface currents measured by the Texas ROTHR radar, which is operated by the US Navy Fleet Surveillance Support Command. The principles and methods are explained in several publications, as well as on our Over-the-Horizon Radar Web Page. These maps are the result of attempts to cover large areas of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico with a single radar, so only radial currents are shown. Some of the data can be interpreted with the help of a bathymetry map of the Caribbean.
Some "corrections" are applied to the radar data to produce the maps you see here. When nearby land echoes are available, we use them as zero-Doppler references to remove current biases imposed by ionospheric motions. We also use land echoes to improve the conversion from radar to geographic coordinates. Finally, we edit the data using an objective spectral-sharpness filter, which we have found to be a good predictor of data quality.
14 June 1995 — Texas only radial current map two weeks later shows a bifurcation in the Western Boundary Current, a wake eddy downstream of a seamount at 84W, 19N, backflow through the Yucatan Channel, and the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico.
28, 30, 31 May 1995 — Texas only radial current map, showing details of the backflow and eddies to the south of Cuba, as well as the Loop Current and the Florida Current.
Check out the 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 ROTHR data
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