Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- A synopsis of the circulation in the Gulf of Mexico and on its continental margins -- Loop current, rings and related circulation in the Gulf of Mexico: a review of numerical models and future challenges -- Upper-layer circulation in the approaches to Yucatan Channel -- Eddy forced variations in on-and off-margin summertime circulation along the 1000-m isobath of the northern Gulf of Mexico, 2000-2003, and links with Sperm Whale distributions along the middle slope -- Assessment of data assimilative ocean models in the Gulf of Mexico using ocean color -- A statistical description of the velocity fields from upper ocean drifters in the Gulf of Mexico -- Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast sea level change -- Eddies and jets over the slope of the Northeast Gulf of Mexico -- Velocity and transport characteristics of the Louisiana-Texas coastal current -- Movies of surface drifters in the northern Gulf of Mexico -- Barotropic tides in the Gulf of Mexico -- A regional data-assimilative model for operational use in the Gulf of Mexico -- Altimeter-derived loop current metrics -- The seasonal variability of continental shelf circulation in the northern and western Gulf of Mexico from a high-resolution numerical model -- Low-frequency circulation over the Texas-Louisiana continental shelf -- Cyclones and westward propagation in the shedding of anticyclonic rings from the loop current -- Deep-water exchange between the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico -- Bay of Campeche circulation: an update -- Wind and Eddy-related shelf/slope circulation processes and coastal upwelling in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico -- Intermediate-depth circulation in the Gulf of Mexico estimated from direct measurements -- West Florida shelf circulation on synoptic, seasonal, and interannual time scales.