U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region NEWS RELEASE

MMS Deploys Current Meter Mooring in Mexican Waters
with Cooperation of Mexican Government

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region (GOMR) announces the deployment of a current meter mooring in Mexican waters this week.  The MMS is funding this study conducted by the Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Enseñada (CICESE), Baja California, Mexico to add to our knowledge of currents in the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The contract calls for deployment of a single mooring in 3,400 meter water depth south of New Orleans near the geographical location of 25 degrees latitude north, 90 degrees longitude west.  The mooring configuration consists of six single point current meters and three Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers covering the entire water column, and will operate for a period of twelve months. 

This mooring will collect data to complement deepwater current measurements being conducted by the MMS-funded Exploratory Study of Deepwater Currents in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as two moorings funded through the Coastal Marine Institute with Louisiana State University.  These studies will provide important data to help analyze and understand the currents within the Gulf of Mexico.  MMS uses such information for environmental assessments.

MMS is the Federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in Federal offshore waters.  The agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and American Indian leases.  These revenues totaled over $6 billion in 2002 and nearly $127 billion since the agency was created in 1982.  Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and Federal park and recreation lands.

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