Ocean currents offshore nothern angola

摘要

Large oil fields have recently been discovered in the deep waters near the Congo River off northern angola and Cabinda. Major facilities will soon follow. SThe methocean environment in this reguion is generally benign though little is known about ocean currents. Until 1990 there had only been a few synoptic measurements of currents but this is changing. SInce 1990, Chevron has collected one year of moored current data, two years of wind data, three months of near-surface drifting buoy data, and two years of ADCP profiles from a drilling rig. All the measurements have been taken in roughly a 90-km square around the Congo Canyon, a deep east-west trench originating at the mouth of the Congo River. The paper shows a number of interesting processes that have important potential impact on deepwater drilling and facilities design and operation. These include 100 cm/s shelf waves, 50 cm/s river plume, 150 cm/s near-bottom jets, and turbidity currents. Some of the processes are no doublt observed in other low-latitude sites, especially near large rivers.