MMS Physical Oceanography of Slope and Rise (POSAR) Workshop Results

摘要

On September 12-14, 2000, the Minerals Management Servicern(MMS) sponsored the Physical Oceanography of the Slopernand Rise (POSAR) Workshop. Its objective was to refine thernexperimental design of a study of currents in the deepwaterrn(200-3,000 m) of the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico.rnThe workshop generated wide interest with about 90rnparticipants from academia, industry, and state and Federalrnagencies. Seven invited speakers set the tone of the workshop,rnfollowed by three breakout sessions addressing manyrnoceanographic processes operating in deepwater, newrnobservational technologies, and data needs. Workshoprnparticipants recommended four exploratory studies that arernwell focused and require reasonable funding. These studiesrnshould help the experimental design of POSAR by addressingrninformation needs on topographic Rossby waves (TRWs),rnabyssal currents, Lagrangian observation of eddies, andrnclimatology of currents over the slope and rise. Anotherrnrecommendation was the continuation of currentrnmeasurements by MMS south of the Mississippi Delta.rnFinally, MMS expects to complete a Request for Proposals inrnmid-2001 to address its deepwater physical oceanographicrninformation needs.