The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has released findings from a year-long study of strong ocean currents in the northern Gulf of Mexico, Exploratory Study of Deepwater Currents in the Gulf of Mexico. Performed under contract for MMS by Science Applications International Corporation, the study incorporated state-of-the-art technology, some of it used for the first time in the Gulf of Mexico.


"This new study has added significant findings to the growing knowledge of physical oceanography," stated Chris Oynes, Associate Director of Offshore Minerals Management. "It is very useful because engineers can use this information to design offshore platforms and facilities that can withstand these deepwater currents."


From March 2003 through April 2004, the oceanographers investigated an area off the Mississippi Delta where these deepwater current energies are known to concentrate. In this area high-velocity currents develop in waves lasting for different periods of time.


According to Dr. Alexis Lugo-Fernandez, an MMS physical oceanographer, "The study confirmed that there are two layers of currents. The top layer is more powerful, stronger. In motion near the bottom, however, are 'small' eddies some 50-70 kilometers in size."


See this link http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/whatsnew/newsreal/2007/070221.pdf for more information.

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