Gulf of Mexico -AJ

• The Gulf of Mexico is a large ocean basin near the Southeastern United States. It is a part of the Atlantic Ocean and is bounded by Mexico to the southwest, Cuba and the Gulf Coast of the U.S. which includes the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas (map). 
• The Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest bodies of water in the world at a width of 810 nautical miles (1,500 km). The entire basin is about 600,000 square miles (1.5 million sq km). Most of the basin consists of shallow intertidal areas but its deepest point is called Sigsbee Deep and has an estimated depth of about 14,383 feet (4,384 m).
• Most recently the Gulf of Mexico has been in the news due to a large oil spill that occurred on April 22, 2010 when an oil drilling platform suffered an explosion and sank into the Gulf about 50 miles (80 km) from Louisiana. 11 people likely died in the explosion and an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil per day leaked into the Gulf of Mexico from the 18,000-foot (5,486 m) well on the platform. Clean-up crews attempted to burn the oil off of the water, gather the oil and move it, and block it from hitting the coast. The Gulf of Mexico itself and the regions surrounding it are highly biodiverse and feature large fishing economies.
• The Gulf of Mexico today is bordered by 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of U.S. coastline and is fed with water from 33 major rivers that flow out of the U.S. The largest of these rivers is the Mississippi River. Along the south and southwest, the Gulf of Mexico is bordered by the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatán. This region consists of about 1,394 miles (2,243 km) of coastline. The southeast is bordered by Cuba.
• An important feature of the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf Stream, which is a warm Atlanticcurrent that begins in the region and flows north into the Atlantic Ocean. Because it is a warm current, sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are normally also warm, which feeds Atlantic hurricanes and helps in giving them strength. Hurricanes are commonalong the Gulf Coast.