Mean monthly mixed layer depth (MLD), sea surface temperature (SST), and surface current climatologies are generated for the tropical Indian Ocean. In addition, surface meteorological climatologies are produced for those variables which could influence the evolution of the MLD and SST fields. Only the MLD climatology is described in detail, as climatologies for the other variables have appeared previously in the literature. The sum of the annual and semiannual harmonics account for greater than 75% of the energy in the MLD time series over most of the basin. The amplitude of the annual signal is greater than 20 m between 10°S and 25°S, with deepest MLDs observed during the southern hemisphere winter. The south central Arabian Sea, between the equator and 10°N, and the northern Arabian Sea are also regions of larger annual harmonic amplitude (>15 m). The amplitude of the semiannual harmonic is largest in the central Arabian Sea (>25 m). Deepest MLDs are observed there during the height of the two monsoon seasons. Correlation coefficients are computed between MLD and SST and several other oceanographic and meteorological variables to explore possible causal relationships. Net energy flux through the sea surface can account for 75% of the variance in the SST and MLD time series over most of the region south of the equator. Large coefficients are also observed in the northwestern Arabian Sea. Correlations between SST and MLD and surface currents are in general small throughout the region, with maxima observed in the central Arabian Sea, in the vicinity of the South Equatorial Current and in the extreme eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. These correlations will be examined in more detail in part 2 of this study in which simple models of mixed layer dynamics are employed.

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A recent twofold increase in the number of temperature observations available in the Gulf of Mexico has prompted a reappraisal of several ideas regarding the temporal variability of the Loop Current in the eastern gulf and the anticyclonic gyre in the western gulf. The analysis includes both synoptic data drawn from 47 cruises in the eastern gulf and monthly maps of temperature at 200 m prepared from observations over the entire gulf. It is found that on average the penetration of the Loop Current into the gulf increases during the winter and spring, reaching a maximum in the early summer, at which time a large anticyclonic eddy probably separates from the loop. It is also found that there are substantial deviations from this average sequence of events; during the past dozen years the period between eddy separations has been as short as 8 months and as long as 17 months. The data coverage of the western gulf is sparse, but there is evidence for the year‐round persistence of the anticyclonic gyre and some indications that the gyre may be strongest in summer and winter.

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