U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

Deepwater Physical Oceanography Reanalysis and Synthesis of Historical Data: Synthesis
Report

OCS Study MMS 2001-064

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Deepwater Physical Oceanography Reanalysis and Synthesis of Historical Data: Synthesis Report. The report documents the reanalysis and synthesis of historical physical oceanographic data in the Gulf of Mexico, including hydrographic data, data from drifters or floats, current measurements, and circulation models output from Government, industry, and academic institutions. The main conclusions are that the general surface circulation of the Gulf is well characterized by the available information, but not so the deepwater circulation. Besides other general conclusions, the report contains extensive and detailed discussions of many oceanographic processes active in the Gulf. Climatology of current statistics, vertical profiles, persistence tables, and eddy kinetic energy, among others, are provided by region and depth. Future observational programs are recommended, consisting of mooring arrays, monitoring operational systems, lagrangian deployments, and enhancements for numerical circulation models. The report includes three CD-Rom’s with the assembled extensive databases.

For more information about this study or the Environmental Studies Program in general, contact the Environmental Sciences Section (MS 5430), 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394, telephone (504) 736-2752. You can obtain copies of the report from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, at a charge of $30.00 by referencing OCS Study MMS 2001-064. You will be able to obtain this report also from the National Technical Information Service in the near future. Here are the addresses. You may also inspect copies at selected Federal Depository Libraries.
 

MMS 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 Indian leases. These collections totaled nearly $8 billion last year and more than $110 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

-MMS-GOM-
MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov

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