GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 3, 1040, 10.
1029/2001GL013990, 2002
Flow structure and transport in the Yucatan Channel
Julio Sheinbaum, Julio Candela, Antoine Badan, and José Ochoa
Departamento de Oceanografı́a Fı́sica, CICESE, Ensenada Baja California, México, USA
Received 24 August 2001; accepted 17 December 2001; published 15 February 2002.
[1] The direct ocean current observations across the Yucatan
Channel collected during the Canek program allow the best
description to date of the exchange between the Caribbean Sea and
the Gulf of Mexico. A net transport of 23.8 ± 1 Sv (1 Sv =
106m3s 1; 95% confidence interval) flowed through the Yucatan
Channel from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, during
the period between September 1999 and June 2000. This is about
20 percent less than the 30 Sv accepted as the nominal transport of
the Florida Current, and less also than the 28 Sv assumed for
Yucatan in closing the transport budgets for Caribbean passages.
The discrepancy may be an imbalance due to fluctuations in the
transports through other passages of the system, especially the Old
Bahama and Northwest Providence Channels, which remain poorly
known. Our data corroborate the principal features of the flow
through the Yucatan Channel: The northerly surface Yucatan
Current and its southerly Under-current off Mexico, and the
southerly surface Cuban Counter-current near Cuba; but previously
unobserved mean currents are found to exist at depth, especially on
the eastern side of the channel. Fluctuations seen in the deep flows
are related to volume anomalies over the Gulf of Mexico. A
transport through the Yucatan Channel smaller than previously
thought has significant implications for the dynamics of the Gulf of
Mexico and its modeling, since this transport is the principal
forcing of its circulation. The circulation budgets in the Western
Subtropical Atlantic should be revised considering these new
results. I NDEX T ERMS : 4512 Oceanography: Physical:
Currents; 4532 Oceanography: Physical: General circulation;
4576 Oceanography: Physical: Western boundary currents; 4243
Oceanography: General: Marginal and semienclosed seas
1. Introduction
[2] The flow through the Yucatan Channel is an integral part of
the western boundary circulation of the North Atlantic Subtropical
Gyre, which is the result of two basin-scale forcing mechanisms:
The boundary layer compensation of the Sverdrup transport from
the wind stress curl over the North Atlantic, and the compensating
flow of the large-scale meridional overturning cell (MOC). Both
contribute about equally to the observed mid-latitude circulation
[Schmitz and McCartney, 1993]. Low-frequency variability of the
structure, composition and transport of the flow may then be
associated with changes in these forcings. In addition to this global
perspective, many questions remain about the surface and deep
flow structures observed in the Yucatan Channel in relation to the
dynamics of the Yucatan Current, the Loop Current, and its eddy-
shedding behavior in the Gulf of Mexico [Maul et al., 1985]. These
are some of the issues that motivated the measurements obtained
during the Canek program (named after an important Mayan
character in the Mexican literature) (Figure 1).
[3] The Canek program started in December 1996 to determine
the structure of the through-flow between the Caribbean Sea and
the Gulf of Mexico. We have successfully concluded 7 cruises:
Copyright 2002 by the American Geophysical Union.
0094-8276/02/2001GL013990
10 - 1
December 1996, May 1997, March 1998, January 1999, August
1999, June 2000 and June 2001, during which extensive shipboard
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and cable- lowered
Conductivity-Temperature-Depth and ADCP (CTD/LADCP) sur-
veys of the region were carried out. In August 1999, an 8 mooring
array that included 33 Aanderaa current meters and 8 upward-
looking ADCPs, was deployed across the Yucatan Channel at
positions shown in Figure 1, fully recovered in June 2000, and re-
deployed for another 11 months. The data from the first ten-month
long deployment are discussed here.
2. Results
[4] The basic structure of the mean currents across the Yucatan
Channel (Figure 2a) consists of the Yucatan Current flowing into
the Gulf of Mexico in upper western layers of the channel and the
southerly Yucatan Counter-current beneath it. On the Cuban side,
southerly flows are present both at the surface and at depth. This
deep flow above the abrupt topography near Cuba had been
suggested by geostrophic calculations [Schlitz, 1973; Molinari
and Yager, 1977; Hansen and Molinari, 1979; Gallegos et al.,
1998], but not observed directly until recent LADCP surveys
[Ochoa et al., 2001]. It is also reproduced by some numerical
simulations of the region [W. Sturges, pers. comm.]. The mean
temperature distribution across the section (Figure 2b) shows the
baroclinicity associated with the predominant currents [Ochoa et
al., 2001], such as the upward east-to-west tilting due to the Yucatan
Current, with a change in curvature close to the Cuban side,
associated with the upper Cuban Counter-current. Changes in the
curvature of the isotherms can also be seen at depth due to the deep
Yucatan and Cuban Counter-currents. The 18°C water thermostad
from the Central North Atlantic, usually found in the Florida
Current [Roemmich and Wunch, 1985; Schmitz and Richardson,
1991], is not especially noticeable in this section, although traces of
this water can be inferred from a subsurface relative maximum in
dissolved oxygen [Morrison and Nowlin, 1977; Ochoa et al., 2001].
Sub-inertial fluctuations of the currents (Figure 2c) are everywhere
larger than their mean, except in the Yucatan Current, the only flow
that shows no reversals. The largest fluctuations are concentrated
above 300 m depth and are especially large on both sides of the
Channel, with a less variable region near 85.8°W. Another result
worthy of mention [Carrillo, 2001] is the distribution of diurnal
tidal energy in the currents, which shows two maxima: One at the
surface near the Yucatan coast, and another at depth near Cuba
(Figure 2d). This second maximum coincides rather well with the
deep Cuban Counter-current described above, suggesting the local
importance of tidal rectification and its contribution to the total
transports. Both the sub-inertial and diurnal ellipses are oriented in a
north-south direction across most of the section (Figures 2c and 2d).
The flows below 800 m are related to the upper-layer dynamics of
the Gulf of Mexico, as evidenced from their comparison with
altimetry data (see Figure 4).
[5] Fluctuations in the currents result in significant variations of
the transports through the section. Transport estimates were carried
out interpolating the component of the velocity normal to the
section onto a 0.05° by 20 m grid using an optimal interpolation
scheme [Roemmich, 1983]. Large length-scales of 150 km in the
horizontal and 1500 m in the vertical were used to estimate the mean
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10 - 2 SHEINBAUM ET AL.: FLOW STRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION IN THE YUCATAN CHANNEL

[6] The preponderance of deep southerly currents raises ques-

30 tions about their origin. The deepest isotherm found at the Florida
North Atlantic Ocean
Cha
nnel Straits off Miami is close to the 6°C. If one assumes long-term mass
Gulf of Mexico Provi
de nce

25 fF
lor
ida
NW
Ba
conservation in the Gulf of Mexico and no substantial exchange
so ha
Str
ait
Old
ma
s between the top and lower layers (as defined by the 6° isotherm),
Yu
Ba
ha

ca
ma
then the lower layer transport in the Yucatan Channel should be
Latitude

ta
Ch

n
an sage
ne
d Pas
Ch
G l ar
r e Windw
an
20
ne
a
t e
negligible in the long-term, since it is the only port of entry and exit
l r
for this type of waters. A cumulative distribution of transports as a

Les
A n t i l l e s
function of temperature (Figure 4a) shows that the net transport is

ser
15

Anti
Caribbean Sea null below 7.3°C. Since no significant flow can enter the Gulf of

ll
es
Mexico below the 6°C isotherm except through Yucatan, one would
expect to find no transport beneath that level. But, in fact, a
10
a maximum mean southward transport exists below the 5.7°C iso-
95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 therm in the Channel (Figure 4a). Both the null transport level
Longitude below 7.3°C and the southward maximum below 5.7°C cannot be
permanent features of the flow in the Channel as discussed above,
25

1 Gulf
100 500 of
0
24 Mexico
20 Mean along channel current Mean temperature from CTD
0
Yucatan Cuba Yucatan Cuba
3000 0 0 28
90 0 26
24 25 2726
7 22
23 22 24 25
200 200 21
23 0 50 1820
100

2021
200
19
1718

20
16

40

10
Campeche Bank 16
400 400 14 15

30
Cuba 13
Latitude

11 12
50

4
2 10 11
Cabo San Antonio 600 600 9
22 20
9
7 8
Cabo Catoche 10
Depth (m)
800 4 800 7
Contoy
6
Cancun Mujeres 4
1000 1000

2
21

4
Yucatan
1200 1200

4
0
Instrumented mooring Cozumel Cayman Basin 1400 1400
ADCP on the bottom 2
20 2
Caribbean 1600 1600
Sea 00 000
45 4

19 b 1800 1800

90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 2000 (cm/s) a 2000

o
( C) b
Longitude 86. 5 86 85. 5 85 86.5 86 85.5 85

Figure 1. (a) Map of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, Subinertial band Diurnal band
Yucatan Cuba Yucatan Cuba
indicating the location of the passages mentioned in the text. The 0
25
0
0
10 9
inset is enlarged in panel b. (b) The Yucatan Channel with 200 20
25
200
10
15
locations of the moorings deployed during the Canek program,
90

400 400
which include 33 Aanderaa current meters and 8 upward-looking

10
10
15

600 600
ADCPs.

15
15
Depth (m)

800 800

10
1000 1000 7.5
10

of each map, and short length-scales of 70 km and 400 m were used

1200 1200
to map the anomalies with respect to the mean. Signal to noise ratios
10

of 0.1 and 0.05 were used to map the mean and the anomalies; rms 1400 1400
10

7.5

differences between estimates and observations are consistent with

5

1600 1600
these statistical assumptions. Mapping errors yield a ±1 Sv uncer- 1800 1800
tainty for each transport estimate. The total transport (Figure 3a) has semi major semi major
a mean of 23.8 ± 1 Sv (95% confidence level). This is 4 – 5 Sv less 2000 axis (cm/s) c 2000 axis (cm/s) d
86.5 86 85.5 85 86.5 86 85.5 85
than the 28 Sv nominally accepted, determined from hydrographic Longitude Longitude
estimates [Gordon, 1967; Roemmich, 1981] or from the difference
between Florida Straits transport (30 – 32 Sv [Schmitz and Richard- Figure 2. (a) Structure of the mean along-channel velocity field
son, 1968; Niiler and Richardson, 1973; Lee et al., 1985; Leaman et for the full observation period. The dots show the position of
al., 1987; Larsen, 1992]) and the Old Bahama and NW Providence current observations with the ones intersecting the topography
Channels estimate of 3 Sv [Atkinson et al., 1995; Leaman et al., located behind the features but at a safe distance to avoid being
1995]. Its standard deviation from sub-inertial fluctuations, 3.4 Sv, affected by them. Shading indicates flow into the Gulf of Mexico.
is nonetheless similar to the one off Florida [Larsen, 1992; Leaman Counterflows into the Caribbean (unshaded) occur at depth on both
et al., 1987; Schott et al., 1988]. The subinertial transport from our sides of the Channel. Contour interval near is 2 cms 1 near zero
measurements range from a minimum of 13.5 Sv on March 13 to a and 10 cms 1 after the 10 cms 1 contour. Panel (b). Mean
maximum of 31.7 Sv on May 23. We cannot make a full comparison temperature structure in the Yucatan Channel from CTD profiles
with the seasonal cycle observed in the Florida Straits, but a well computed from 14 objective maps of crossings made at various
established feature there is the sharp drop in transport in October times of the year straddling all seasons, during the Canek program.
which is not apparent in our data. The transport below the 5.7°C Panels (c) and (d) depict the variability of the flow from vector
isotherm (Figure 3c) is dominated by fluctuations, whilst the one power spectra for the sub-inertial and diurnal bands respectively.
above the 5.7°C isotherm (Figure 3b) has, perhaps not surppris- The spectra are calculated with a broad frequency resolution of 1
ingly, a very similar structure to the total transport. Higher-fre- cpd. Solid contours indicate the magnitude of the semi-major axis
quency transport fluctuations exist with periods of a few days and in of the variability ellipse and the broken contours its trigonometric
the 15 – 60 days band [Abascal, 2001]. orientation, 90° being the northward direction.

SHEINBAUM ET AL.: FLOW STRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION IN THE YUCATAN CHANNEL
35
Transports in the Yucatan Channel
30
25
[Sv]
20
15
total mean=23.8, max=32.9, min=15.3, std=3.2
10
35
30
25
[Sv]
20
15
10
above 5.7 C
o mean=24.6, max=34, min=17.2, std=3.4
10
5
0
[Sv]
10
15
below 5.7 oC mean= 0.8, max=4.6, min= 9.7, std=2.5
07/10/99 26/11/99 15/01/00 05/03/00
Figure 3. Sub-inertial time series of transports through the
Yucatan Channel, from objectively mapped current observations.
The hourly transport time series were low-passed with a 38 h half-
power point filter. Shown are (a) the total transport across the
section, (b) integrated transport above the 5.7°C isotherm, and (c)
transport beneath the 5.7°C isotherm (c). The series have 70
degrees of freedom, so the mean of the total transport is 23.8 ± 1 Sv
to a confidence level of 95%. The net flow of 0.7 Sv into the
Caribbean below the 5.7°C isotherm (panel c) implies a mean
deepening of about 20 m of the density structure in the Gulf of
Mexico over the 10 months of measurements.
and must result from variability on time-scales longer than the
measurement period. Variable deep currents are indeed character-
istic of the flow in the Channel, apparently related to the dynamics
of the upper layer in the Gulf of Mexico. Figure 4b shows the time
series of the cumulative transport beneath the 7.3°C isotherm (thick
line), compared to a quantity proportional to the area integral of the
observed altimetry anomaly [Leben, 2001] within the 800 m isobath
in the Gulf of Mexico. The highest correlation between the two time
series is 0.61, with altimetry leading the transport series by 6 days,
possibly an ill-resolved baroclinic adjustment time of the deeper
layers to a warm water intrusion at the top. Indeed, [Bunge, 2001]
shows that there is an even stronger correlation between the deep
transport at Yucatan and the rate of change of Loop Current surface
area, detected both from altimetry and thermal images. The two
events in March and May 2000, during which the correlation is lost,
coincide with a predominance of cyclonic anomalies within the
region of integration, indicating a different response of the internal
structure of the Gulf of Mexico to cyclonic or anti-cyclonic eddy
events. The high correlation between these two different geophys-
ical processes supports our view that the deep flows in the Channel
are related with the energetic events that occur in the upper layer of
the Gulf of Mexico. Maul et al. [1985], suggested a connection
between Loop Current eddy formation and deep flows at Yucatan,
but had insufficient data to verify it. Numerical models (W. Sturges,
pers. comm.) also show an increase in southward flows when there
is a large penetration of the Loop Current into the Gulf.
3. Discussion
[7] Except for the measurements in the Florida Straits, our
program in the Yucatan Channel is the only continuous and high-
resolution observing network of the flow through the passages in the
Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean Sea system. Our finding of 23.8 ± 1 Sv of
mean transport in the Yucatan Channel during the 10 months of
measurements is robust and suggests that transports through the
other passages that conform the sources of the Florida Current and
Gulf Stream proper, Old Bahama and NW Providence Channels,
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10 - 3
may be more variable than previously thought. Given the long-term
stability of the transport of the Florida Current [Larsen, 1992], there
are no grounds to support a reduction of 4 – 5 Sv in its mean transport
during the period of our observations. Transport estimates through
a the Lesser Antilles passages (Figure 1a) [Wilson and Johns, 1997;
Johns et al., 2001] give a mean transport into the Caribbean Sea of
18.4 Sv, with a standard deviation of 4.7 Sv, but more measurements
are required in the Greater Antilles passages [Johns et al., 1999],
b 1
transport below isotherm (10 6 m3/s)
0.5
c 0
24/04/00 13/06/00
0.5
1
a
4 5 6 7 8 9
isotherm (oC)
1.5
1
0.5
[1013 m3]
0
0.5
b
1
18/08/99 07/10/99 26/11/99 15/01/00 05/03/00 24/04/00 13/06/00
Figure 4. (a) The ten-month (September 1999 to June 2000)
mean transport observed between a given isotherm depth and the
bottom of the Yucatan Channel. The continous line shows transport
estimates computed from hourly current and isotherm depth series,
whilst the dashed line is the same estimate from the corresponding
low-passed series. The difference between the two curves is caused
by tidal rectification of the transports, due to the covariance of
velocity and isotherm depth. For the period under consideration,
no net transport exists below the 7.3°C isotherm while there is a
maximum mean transport of 0.7 Sv into the Caribbean below the
5.7°C isotherm (dotted line). (b) Volume anomaly derived from
the time integration of the transport below the 7.3°C isotherm in
the Yucatan Channel (thick line) and the observed altimetry
anomaly integrated in the area within the 800 m isobath in the Gulf
of Mexico, which has been multiplied by a factor of 420 obtained
as the required adjustment of the density structure within the Gulf
of Mexico to a change in sea surface height in order to have a nil
pressure gradient at depth. That is, if a 10 cm increase of the sea
surface occurs at a given location in the Gulf by say, an inflow of
surface layer waters, the lower density profile will adjust by
deepening 42 meters to eliminate horizontal pressure gradients in
the deep layers. The correlation between the two curves is 0.59 at
zero lag (different from zero at the 95% confidence level), and has
a maximum of 0.61 at a lag of 6 days, with the altimetry leading.
The difference between these two correlation coefficients and the
lags are not statistically significant, but might be indicative of a
physically plausible baroclinic adjustment time scale.

10 - 4 SHEINBAUM ET AL.: FLOW STRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION IN THE YUCATAN CHANNEL
particularly across the Windward Passage, whose mean transport
figures of 7 to 10 Sv have been determined from the need to satisfy a
closure condition of 28 Sv at Yucatan [Roemmich, 1981; Johns et al.,
2001], which our measurements show to be inaccurate. The reduced
transport at Yucatan requires a revision of the water exchange in the
Western Subtropical Atlantic, and suggests the need of a more
systematic and long-term measurement program of the region. The
connection between the highly variable deep flows in the Yucatan
Channel, the dynamics of the Loop Current, and the eddy-shedding
process also warrants further investigation.
[8] Acknowledgments. We thank the crew of the B/O Justo Sierra,
and our technical staff for their participation in the Canek program. We also
thank Bob Leben for providing the CCAR analysis of altimetry data. This
work is a collaboration with the Instituto de Oceanolog a de Cuba and with
the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and has received
support from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
(IAI), from Mexico’s CONACyT, and from contracts with the Deepstar
Consortium.
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