By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 8 -- The US Minerals Management Service in late March deployed a current meter mooring in Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico as part of a study by the Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Enseñada (CICESE), Baja California, Mexico.
MMS is funding that $663,000 study as part of its larger $4.6 million project in US waters to evaluate deepwater currents.
"Deep currents exceeding one knot have been observed in the Gulf of Mexico," MMS representative Mary Boatman told OGJ Online. "The frequency, duration, and mechanisms controlling these currents are not well understood. Information about these currents is necessary for modeling of potential discharges or spills from oil and gas activities as well as designing of structures. This mooring is part of a much larger effort and will add another piece to the puzzle of the understanding of deepwater currents."
She said, "To collect scientific information in Mexican waters, it is necessary that we work with Mexican scientists and institutions."
MMS officials said these strong currents "have strong implications for riser designs." They also may affect MMS assessments of subsurface spills and other offshore oil and gas operations.
The single mooring was deployed in 3,400 m of water south of New Orleans near 25º north, 90º west in the Mexican side of the gulf. It consists of six single point current meters and three Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers covering the entire water column. The ADCPs are designed to provide "full profiles" of water current speed and direction over a period of 12 months. A final report on that program is scheduled in June 2005.
This mooring will collect data to complement deepwater current measurements being conducted by the MMS-funded study of deepwater currents as well as two moorings funded through the Coastal Marine Institute with Louisiana State University (LSU) in US gulf waters, said MMS officials.
The $4.6 million study of deepwater currents is aimed at determining the unknown cause of strong currents in the gulf of 1-2 knots that sometimes occur for 10-15 days, with "apparently short spatial scales." The other $406,000 study through LSU involves a measurement mooring installed in 2,300 m of water at 92º west on the US side of the gulf.