2014 & 2015 Loop Current Observations from a Gulf of Mexico Public-Private Ocean Observing Collaboration

Pak Leung, Shell Global Solutions (US), Inc., Houston, TX, United States, Ruth Perry, Shell Exploration & Production Company, Upstream Americas, Houston, United States, Neha Sharma, Horizon Marine Inc, Marion, MA, United States, Cristina Zwissler, Shell Global Solutions (US), Inc., United States, Walt McCall, NOAA National Data Buoy Center, Richard H Bouchard, NOAA Camp Springs, Camp Springs, MD, United States and Kevin M Martin, The University of Southern Mississippi, Division of Marine Science, Stennis Space Center, MS, United States
Abstract:
In 2008, Shell Exploration & Production Company and NOAA formed a collaboration to explore joint opportunities for monitoring the Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf (OCS). Since then, industry, academic, private, and government partners have been working to build an adaptive ocean observing program that leverages and integrates the complementary strengths of each partner. The program includes vessel and rig-mounted ADCPs, buoys, remote sensing, and profiling gliders with advanced numerical modeling. In this presentation, we focus on 2014 and 2015 program observations of the Gulf physical environment.

The 2014 season was characterized by strong Loop Current (LC) circulation with persistent currents (3.5+ knots) extending as far north as 29oN. A number of eddies impacted the Mississippi Canyon region from May to November with one (Eddy Lazarus) undergoing several separation and reattachment cycles. During Lazarus reattachment, the fresh inflow resulted in rapid northward surge of strong currents at and onto the Louisiana continental shelf resulting in advection of Mississippi River waters into the outer OCS. Advection led to higher than average offshore surface and near-surface production atypical for the OCS. The combination of fast, persistent LC speeds and dynamic eddies impacted operations throughout the eastern, central, and western Gulf regions.

The 2015 season is active. The size and intensity of eddies (4 at time of publication) are impacting industry and glider operations and forecasting of the LC. Eddies Nautilus and Olympus (250nm wide, 4 knot currents) remain in the central Gulf impacting activities from the Mississippi Canyon to Walker Ridge. Integrating real-time observations with numerical modeling provides the collaboration an opportunity to observe unique features in real-time. Furthermore, data sharing from this program is providing valuable, near real-time data for the community to better understand annual variability of the LC and eddies.

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