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ACCESS NUMBER: 31029
STUDY TITLE: Cross-Shelf Exchange Processes and the Deep-water Circulation of the Gulf of
Mexico: Dynamical Effects of Submarine Canyons and Interactions of Loop Current Eddies with
Topography
REPORT TITLE: Cross-Shelf Exchange Processes and the Deep-water Circulation of the Gulf
of Mexico: Dynamical Effects of Submarine Canyons and Interactions of Loop Current Eddies
with Topography
CONTRACT NUMBER: 14-35-01-99-CT-31029
SPONSORING OCS REGION: Gulf of Mexico
APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Western Gulf of Mexico; Central Gulf of Mexico; Eastern
Gulf of Mexico
FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003
COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: March 2004
COST(S): FY 2000: $200,304; FY 2001: $173,224; FY 2002: $180,765; FY 2003: $186,054;
CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: $740,347
PROJECT MANAGER(S): L.M. Rothstein, I. Ginis
AFFILIATION: Accurate Environmental Forecasting Inc.
ADDRESS: 165 Dean Knauss Dr., Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S): S.A. Frolov, G.D. Rowe, L.M. Rothstein, I. Ginis
KEY WORDS: Gulf of Mexico, numerical modeling, ocean currents, Loop Current Eddies, Loop
Current Frontal Eddies, current-topography interaction
BACKGROUND: Deep-water exploration and development is expected to progress rapidly
under stimuli of high flow rates, high volume, and technological advances. In response to this
expectation the U.S. Department of the Interior sponsored a multi-part numerical modeling study
designed to improve our understanding of physical mechanisms controlling the ocean circulation
in deep-water regions of the Gulf of Mexico. This report contains results of a 4-year process-
oriented numerical study focused on investigating the interaction of deep ocean circulation
features, e.g. Loop Current Eddies (LCEs), with continental shelf and slope.
OBJECTIVES: (1) To adapt eddy resolving numerical models to the rise, slope, and adjacent
shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico; (2) To reproduce the three-dimensional currents associated
with eddy-slope, eddy-eddy, and Loop Current-eddy interactions as well as other known
physical phenomena in the area; (3) To determine the optimal sampling scheme to modify
ongoing field observations in the area.
DESCRIPTION: The overall methodology adopted for this study is based upon a numerical
experiment strategy of building model configurations with gradually increasing realism: start with
relatively less complex models, which we hypothesize to represent the essential physics of the
phenomenon, then gradually transition into a more complete set of physics while still retaining
