Proceedings Fifth Annual Gulf of Mexico Information Transfer Meeting

OCS STUDY NT ~ ~ MMS 85-0008 D }` L .R....... PROCEEDINGS Fif th Annual Gulf of Mexico Inf ormation Transf er Meeting U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR/MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE OCS STUDY MMS 85-0008 PROCEED I N G S FIFTH ANNUAL GULF OF MEXICO INFORMATION TRANSFER MEETING International Hotel New Orleans, Louisiana 27-29 November 1984 SPONSORED BY DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMET'T SERVICE GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGIONAL OFFICE Arrangements Handled by Science Applications Incorporated Raleigh, North Carolina and Department of Conferences and Workshops University of Southern Mississippi Long Beach, Mis :3issippi DISCLAIMER This report has been reviewed by the Minerals Management Service and approved for publication . Approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Service, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recom mendation for use. REPORT AVAI';ABILITY Preparation of this report was conducted under Contract between the Minerals Management Service and Science Applications, Inc ./University of Southern Mississippi . Extra copies of the report may be obtained from the Public Information Section (Mail Stop OPS-3-4) at the following address : Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Regional Office U .S . Department of the Interior P .O . Box 7944 Metairie, Louisiana 70010 Attn : Public Information Section Phone : (504) 838-0519 111 PREFACE The purpose of these Proceedings is to present an overview of major Gulf of Mexico environmental studies programs as presented in the MMS Fifth Annual Information Transfer Meeting held November 27-29, 1984 . In order to keep this document to a manageable size, technical description and study results were edited to provide only the briefest description of program objectives . As a result, the Proceedings should be viewed as a reference to studies programs rather than a presentation on their technical content . Further explanations of study objectives and findings should be obtained from either the individual investigator or the responsible government agency . It should be noted that under the presentation titles are the names of the speakers and their respec- tive affiliations . A complete address for all speakers and participants is included in the List of Attendees . Special thanks are extended to session chairs and speakers, who are responsible for the success of the meeting . The Department of Conferences and Workshops of the University of Southern Mississipp :i is to be commended for the excellent editorial work done in ensuring the coherence of this document . Special appreciation is also extended to all meeting participants . The active involvement of such an informed group provided the necessary impetus for man ;• stimulating and enlightening exchanges . Copies of this document may be obtained from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) . Cover Illustration : "Microbiocoenosis, a community within a community" by Dr . Robert Rogers V TABLE OF CON'fENTS Preface V List of Tables ix List of Figures x Opening Plenary Session, Dr. Richard Defenbaugh, Chair 1 Gulf of Mexico Special Concerns, Mr . William T. Johnstone, C hair 35 Wetlands Loss : Contributing Factors and Potential Mitigating Measures, Dr. Norman Froomer and Dr . Carolyn French, Chairs 49 Commercial Fisheries Concerns Relative to Oil and Gas Activities, Mr. Dan Tabberer and Mr. Jacob Lehman, Chairs 115 Development and Use of Ecological Models, Dr. Robert Rogers and Mr. Lawrence Handley, Chairs 141 Marine Data Archiving and Indexing, Dr. Murray Brown, C hair 165 Technology Assessment and Research Program for Offshore Minerals Operations, Mr. John B . Gregory and Mr. Charles Smith, Chairs 195 Socioeconomics, Mr. John Rodi, Chair 239 Rigs to Reefs, Mr . Villere Reggio, Jr. and Mr. William DuBose, IV, Chairs 295 The Deep Sea, Dr. Robert Avent and Dr. Benny Gallaway, C hairs 343 Physical Oceanography, Dr. Murray Brown, Chair 383 vii Current Studies in Underwater Archaeology, Ms . Melanie Stright, C hair 443 Index to Authors 463 List of Attendees 467 Vlll LIST OF TABLES P age Table 1: Connectivity matrix showing inputs outputs, processes and regulators for a continental shelf ecosystem . 155 Table 2: Summary of the regional demers<<1 nekton and environmental data sets integrated into the Tuscaloosa Trend Project data base . 161 Table 3: Information products important i1i the management of ecological data . 178 Table 4: Ten-year history of lease offering on Texas submerged lands in calendar years . 286 Table 5: Ten years of total revenue from Texas submerged lands by fiscal years . 287 Table 6 : Ten year history of income from leasing Texas submerged lands, separated into rental, bonus and royalty. 288 T able 7 : L eg 96 drillin g sites . 364 ix LIST OF FIGURES P age Figure 1 . The C 02-sea level connection . 62 Figure 2. The rise of global mean sea level compared to atmospheric carbon dioxide . 63 Figure 3 . Plot of radiocarbon-dated sea-level indicators (0-16,000 years B .P.) for the northeast coast of the United States. High latitude departures from present sea level indicate post-glacial isostatic rebound while lower latitude excursions represent peripheral bulge subsidence, all indicative of geoidal changes. 66 Figure 4. Location of the 168 radiocarbon-dated sea-level indicators used to plot sea-level data on Figure 5 . 67 Figure 5. Elevation/time plot of 168 sea-level indicators for the Gulf Coast region . 68 Figure 6. Composite and individual growth curves of the Mississippi River subdeltas showing their relationship to a 7-year moving average of Mississippi River discharge, 1917-1977, taken from the USA C 0 E gauging station at Vicksburg. 72 Figure 7. Principal areas of marsh losses in Dorchester County, Maryland, showing the approximate location of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge . 87 Figure 8. Annual mean-high-water shoreline changes along the western shore of Delaware Bay averaged over the last century. 90 Figure 9. Comprehensive Freshwater Diversion Plan . 110 Figure 10. Status of Comprehensive Freshwater Diversion Plan . 111 Figure 11 . The Tuscaloosa Trend study area. 151 Figure 12 . Boundaries for Tuscaloosa Trend 0 CS region . 154 Figure 13. Conceptual representation of Tuscaloosa Trend ecosyste m . 156 Figure 14. Conceptual model of East Flower Garden Reef. 164 x Figure 15. Pump start-up techniques with choke line friction . 208 Figure 16. Typical choke pressure errors observed during pump start up . 209 Figure 17. Observed and predicted pressure profiles while circulating a 15 bbl gas kick from the well . 210 Figure 18. Effective frictional area for a 1 .75-in . Swaco drilling choke . 211 Figure 19. Predicted and measured pressure changes in a vertical choke line flowing gas and mud . 212 Figure 20. The skimming arrangement used to collect the oil. '219 Figure 21. The integral boom-skimmer-ship system for large volume oil collection . 219 Figure 22. The performance of laboratory scale subsurface collectors. 219 Figure 23. A double collector which increases efficiency at non-optimum conditions . 220 Figure 24. Subsurface collector performance including scale effects. 220 Figure 25. Sketch of ship-mounted subsurface collection system . 220 Figure 26. Computer simulation of tension-pile behavior . 231 Figure 27. Typical hysteretic behavior of a model axial segment in clay. 232 Figure 28. Single-slice model for pile installation, consolidation, and loading simulation . 233 Figure 29. One-inch diameter pile test setup . 234 Figure 30. Three-inch diameter pile segment model . 235 Figure 31. 30-inch diameter pile and instrumentation details. 236 Figure 32. Integration of analysis and experiments for pile design . 237 Figure 33. Louisiana Econometric Model. 264 Figure 34. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in percent . (Sources: Louisiana Department of Labor and the University of Southwestern Louisiana) 272 xi Figure 35. Outline of disposition alternatives . 335 Figure 36. Eastern Gulf of Mexico with generalized outline of the youngest fan lobe, submarine fan divisions, main channel, and location of drill sites . 365 Figure 37 . South Atlantic Phase 1 sampling design . 379 Figure 38 . Mid-Atlantic Monitoring Study, sampling design . 379 Figure 39 . Mooring locations during Year 2 . 394 Figure 40. Sum mary of ship/plane tracklines during M ay 1984 hydrocruise. 394 Figure 41. Trajectory of most recent buoy (No. 3350) released in a Loop Current eddy in April 1984 . 395 Figure 42. Current meter locations . 407 Figure 43. Box core locations. 407 Figure 44a. Instantaneous view of the interface deviation in a two-layer simulation of the Gulf of Mexico driven from rest to statistical equilibrium solely by inflow through the Yucatan Straits (Experiment 9). 418 Figure 44b. Depth of the 22 degree isotherm al surface, 4-18 August 1966. 418 Figure 45. Instantaneous view of the interface deviation every 90 days, from day 90 of model year 9 to day 0 of model year 10, for Experiment 28 (left) and Experiment 34 (ri g ht) . 419 Figure 46. Instantaneous view of the interface deviation every 20 days, from day 260 of model year 9 to day 0 of model year 10, for Experiment 34 . 420 Figure 47a. Sea surface height variability for the Gulf of Mexico. Based on about 83,000 GEOS-3 and SEASAT crossovers, spanning nearly four years . 421 Figure 47b. Sea surface height variability for the Gulf of Mexico. Based on an ocean model simulation with port forcing only (Experiment 40), measured over three eddy cycles at statistical equilibrium with the free surface sampled every ten days for a total of over 300,000 "observations." 421 Figure 48. Instantaneous view of upper layer averaged velocities from Experiment 60 on model day 2170 ; velocities above 50 cm/sec are not shown . 422 Xll Figure 49a. Paths of actual and simulated drifters : NDBO drifter 1599 from November 20, 1980 ., through M ay 11, 1981 . 423 Figure 49b. Paths of actual and simulated drifters : Path of simulated drifter number 3 from model day 1680 to model day 1980 of Experiment 60 .

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