Warm core ring

The ring is an independent circulatory system of warm water that can persist for several months before losing its distinctive identity.

[1] Warm core rings can be detected using infrared satellites or sea height anomalies resulting from and are easily identifiable against the surrounding colder waters.

[4] Warm core rings are often reabsorbed by the Gulf Stream, but they can break apart on their own as well if they move onto the continental shelf.

[5] Warm core rings are easily observed in the Gulf of Mexico or elsewhere through the use of infrared imagery by weather satellites.

Because high sea surface temperature as well as warmer water at greater depth is the primary intensifier of a hurricane, warm core rings account for tremendous strengthening of these storms.

When the rings approach continental shelves, coastal currents are affected, which can cause organisms to drift onto the shelf that ordinarily would not be there.

Species like the bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) and pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula) spawn near the western edge of the Gulf Stream just south of Cape Hatteras.

Since the larvae are planktonic, they don't swim into the center of the Gulf Stream but stay near the western edge.