Abstract Simultaneous time series of current velocity profiles are used to characterize flow structures over intermediate-depth coral ecosystems in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Understanding of temporal variability and spatial coherence in flow is necessary to establish connectivity among these ecosystems. Time series were collected at Pulley Ridge (the westernmost site), Northern Dry Tortugas, and Southern Dry Tortugas. Overlapping data spanned the period from March 22, 2013 to June 20, 2015. The strongest currents were approximately 1 m s-1 southeastward at Pulley Ridge. Subtidal velocities from the three sites were decomposed into real-vector, concatenated empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs). Results from EOFs indicated that Mode 1, which explained 63% of the subtidal variance, was roughly in the same direction at each of the three sites. Mode 1 directionality indicated potential interconnectivity between Pulley Ridge and Southern Dry Tortugas, and between Northern Dry Tortugas and Pulley Ridge. Mode 1 also suggested limited to no connectivity between the two Dry Tortugas sites as the flows over the two sites were parallel. Mode 2 explained close to 24% of the variance and showed incoherence among the three sites. Wavelet analysis of EOF coefficients indicated dominance of >1 week variability in this region. Flow variability may be associated with wind forcing and Loop Current variability as confirmed by satellite altimetry. Wind forcing caused part of the intra-monthly ( 1 month) periods. The relationship was more robust, but inverse, when comparing sea level off the northwestern coast of Cuba to the Mode 1 of the currents. These results characterize physical connectivity among South Florida coral ecosystems and have biophysical implications for coral fish populations.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥湾东部中光珊瑚生态系统的流动结构

摘要 当前速度剖面的同时时间序列用于表征墨西哥湾东部中深度珊瑚生态系统的流动结构。了解流量的时间可变性和空间一致性对于在这些生态系统之间建立连通性是必要的。时间序列在 Pulley Ridge（最西端）、Northern Dry Tortugas 和 Southern Dry Tortugas 收集。重叠数据跨越了2013年3月22日至2015年6月20日期间。最强的洋流在滑轮岭东南方向约1 m s-1。来自三个站点的潮下速度被分解为实向量、串联经验正交函数 (EOF)。EOF 的结果表明，模式 1 解释了 63% 的潮下变化，在三个站点中的每个站点都大致处于相同的方向。模式 1 方向性表明滑轮岭和南旱龟之间以及北旱龟和滑轮岭之间可能存在互连。模式 1 还建议限制在两个 Dry Tortugas 站点之间没有连通性，因为这两个站点上的流量是平行的。模式 2 解释了接近 24% 的方差并显示三个站点之间的不连贯性。EOF 系数的小波分析表明该区域>1 周的变异性占主导地位。正如卫星测高所证实的那样，流量变化可能与风力和环路电流变化有关。风强迫引起了部分月内（1 个月）时期。当将古巴西北海岸的海平面与海流的模式 1 进行比较时，这种关系更加稳固，但相反。