Key Facts about Gulf of Mexico

About Gulf of Mexico:

• It is a partially landlocked body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North American continent. 
• It is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean and the world’s largest gulf.
• It is surrounded to the west by the Mexican Yucatan and Veracruz regions, to the north by the United States, to the east by the Caribbean islands and Cuba, and to the south by the tapering Mexican mainland.
• It is connected to the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatán Channel (between Cuba and Mexico) and with the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Florida (between Cuba and the US).
• It is one of the largest and oldest water bodies on Earth. It was formed in the late Triassic period, around 300 million years ago.
  • It was formed as a result of seafloor subsidence due to the movement of the tectonic plates.
• Often referred to as the “Mediterranean of the Americas”, the Gulf of Mexico is the 9th largest water body, measuring approximately 1,600 km from west to east and about 900 km from north to south. 
• It covers an area of some 600,000 square miles (1,550,000 square km). 
• It is somewhat shallow, along the coastal continental shelf areas, and has an average depth of 1,615 m.
• Climate:
  • The climate varies from tropical to subtropical type.
  • The region experiences some of the most severe weather in the world, including major hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorms.
• The seawater from the Caribbean Sea that enters the Gulf of Mexico via the Yucatán Channel, quickly circulates in a clockwise loop current before exiting the Gulf through the Florida Straits, eventually forming the Gulf Stream. 
  • It is one of the most powerful and warm ocean currents that flow from the Gulf of Mexico towards the northern Atlantic Ocean.
• The Mississippi and the Rio Grande are the major rivers draining into the gulf.
• The shallow continental shelf regions of the Gulf of Mexico contain large deposits of petroleum and natural gas.
  • It is the center of the United States’ oil refining and petrochemical industry, and hence more than 18% of the US oil production is derived from the offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

Q1: What are Hurricanes?

Hurricanes are giant tropical storms that produce heavy rainfall and super-strong winds. Hurricanes form over warm ocean waters near the equator. The warm, moist air above the ocean surface rises, causing air from surrounding areas to be “sucked” in. This “new” air then becomes warm and moist, and rises, too, beginning a continuous cycle that forms clouds. The clouds then rotate with the spin of the Earth. If there is enough warm water to feed the storm, a hurricane forms. Hurricanes are also called cyclones and typhoons, depending on where they occur. In the Atlantic Ocean and Northwest Pacific they are hurricanes, in the Northwest Pacific they are typhoons and in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean they are cyclones.

Source: Over 40% of US Gulf of Mexico oil output shut-in by Francine