Observed Ocean Conditions and Hurricane Hilda, 1964

Abstract Hurricane Hilda crossed the Gulf of Mexico in the period 30 September to 4 October 1964, developing into a very severe hurricane in the central Gulf. Sea temperature data available prior to the storm indicated what was probably a typical late summer situation with some surface temperatures running above 30C. Beginning 5 October 1964, a 7-day cruise was conducted over the area where hurricane winds had been observed. Using the GUS III of the Galveston Biological Laboratory of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, four crossings of the hurricane path were made. Bathythermograph observations were taken regularly to 270 m and hydrographic casts to 125 m. The data on all four crossings indicated similar patterns. The observed temperature-depth structures after the storm indicated that the warm ocean surface layers were transported outward from the hurricane center, cooling and mixing as they moved; that these waters converged outside of the central storm area with the result that downwelling to some 80 ...