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The
NewsRoom
Release #: 3128
Date: September 9, 2004
MMS Partners
with Mexico
to Study Ocean Currents Over the Western Slope of the Gulf
MMS awarded a three-year, $1.73 million contract to
the Center for Scientific Investigation and Higher Education in
Ensenada (CICESE) in Mexico, to record ocean currents throughout the
water column over the outer continental shelf and slope so as to
obtain a three-dimensional picture of the circulation of the western
Gulf in Mexican waters. The program includes 13 months of field
observations.
Leasing in the western Gulf of Mexico extends to
deepwater near the U.S.-Mexico border in water depths exceeding 2,000
meters. This is an area with limited oceanographic and current data.
The coupling of this study with a previously awarded MMS study, Survey
of Deepwater Currents in the Western Gulf of Mexico, in U.S.
territorial waters, will add significantly to the understanding of the
physical oceanography of the western Gulf.
MMS Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Chris Oynes
said that “This partnership with research institutions in Mexico to
obtain data from the Mexican area of the Gulf of Mexico will greatly
aid MMS.”
Oynes also noted, “The circulation in the western
Gulf of Mexico is extremely energetic, not only from motions generated
locally, but because many features of Gulf circulation originate in
the eastern basin from the interactions of the Loop Current with its
surroundings.” Warm eddies generated from the Loop Current propagate
westward through the central Gulf or along its northern slope and
dissipate along the Mexican coast.”
“The eastern Gulf of Mexico has been studied
extensively, but few direct observations of currents have been made
off its western shore, especially off Mexico, a region fundamental to
understanding of the Gulf’s dynamics,” concluded Oynes.
Because there is a potential for more exploration by
the oil and gas industry, which currently includes permit approvals
for 100 exploratory wells in the Alaminos Canyon and Port Isabel areas
of the western Gulf alone, MMS will need better current data from the
area to fulfill its missions. The western Gulf is the boundary where
Loop Current rings and eddies strongly interact with the seafloor and
dissipate. In addition, significant amounts of drifting material in
the Gulf land in this region. This proposed study would collect
current and hydrographic measurements in the western Gulf that will
allow identification of processes present in the region to go into the
design of future oceanographic studies. Successful completion of this
study will also ensure that understanding of the deep western Gulf is
coincident with future exploration and development trends.
The Minerals Management Service is the federal
agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the
nation’s oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer
Continental Shelf in Federal offshore waters. The agency also
collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal
and American Indian lands. MMS disbursed more than $8 billion in FY
2003 and more than $135 billion since the agency was created in 1982.
Nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water
Conservation Fund annually for the acquisition and development of
state and Federal park and recreation lands.
Relevant Web Sites
MMS Main Website
Gulf of Mexico Website
Media Contacts
Debra Winbush
(504) 736-2597
Caryl Fagot
(504) 736-2590
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department of the Interior |