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Title: SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT

Abstract

The Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium (GOM-HRC) was established in 1999 to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research. The primary objective of the group has been to design and emplace a remote monitoring station or sea floor observatory (MS/SFO) on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2005, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission, although unavoidably delayed by hurricanes and other disturbances, necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water and sea floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Development of the station has always included the possibility of expanding its capabilities to include biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health. This possibility has recently achieved reality via the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology's (NIUST) solicitation for proposals for research to be conducted at the MS/SFO. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in the arena of gas hydrates research. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembledmore » to promote innovative research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. The observatory has achieved a microbial dimension in addition to the geophysical and geochemical components it had already included. Initial components of the observatory, a probe that collects pore-fluid samples and another that records sea floor temperatures, were deployed in Mississippi Canyon 118 in May of 2005. Follow-up deployments, planned for fall 2005, have had to be postponed and the use of the vessel M/V Ocean Quest and its two manned submersibles sacrificed due to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina (and later, Rita) on the Gulf Coast. Every effort is being made to locate and retain the services of a replacement vessel and submersibles or Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) but these efforts have been fruitless due to the demand for these resources in the tremendous recovery effort being made in the Gulf area. Station/observatory completion, anticipated for 2007, will likely be delayed by at least one year. The seafloor monitoring station/observatory is funded approximately equally by three federal Agencies: Minerals Management Services (MMS) of the Department of the Interior (DOI), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST), an agency of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Subcontractors with FY03 funding fulfilled their technical reporting requirements in the previous report (41628R10). Only unresolved matching funds issues remain and will be addressed in the report of the University of Mississippi's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Mississippi, Oxford, MS (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
883711
DOE Contract Number:  
FC26-02NT41628
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
03 NATURAL GAS; GAS HYDRATES; GULF OF MEXICO; MONITORING; MONITORS; SEA BED; SEDIMENTS; REMOTE SENSING; COORDINATED RESEARCH PROGRAMS; GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS; GEOCHEMICAL SURVEYS

Citation Formats

Higley, Paul, Woolsey, J Robert, Goodman, Ralph, Asper, Vernon, Mizaikoff, Boris, Davis, Angela, Hardage, Bob A, Chanton, Jeffrey, and Rogers, Rudy. SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT. United States: N. p., 2006. Web. doi:10.2172/883711.
Higley, Paul, Woolsey, J Robert, Goodman, Ralph, Asper, Vernon, Mizaikoff, Boris, Davis, Angela, Hardage, Bob A, Chanton, Jeffrey, & Rogers, Rudy. SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/883711
Higley, Paul, Woolsey, J Robert, Goodman, Ralph, Asper, Vernon, Mizaikoff, Boris, Davis, Angela, Hardage, Bob A, Chanton, Jeffrey, and Rogers, Rudy. 2006. "SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/883711. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/883711.
@article{osti_883711,
title = {SUPPORT OF GULF OF MEXICO HYDRATE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEA FLOOR MONITORING STATION PROJECT},
author = {Higley, Paul and Woolsey, J Robert and Goodman, Ralph and Asper, Vernon and Mizaikoff, Boris and Davis, Angela and Hardage, Bob A and Chanton, Jeffrey and Rogers, Rudy},
abstractNote = {The Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium (GOM-HRC) was established in 1999 to assemble leaders in gas hydrates research. The primary objective of the group has been to design and emplace a remote monitoring station or sea floor observatory (MS/SFO) on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2005, in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea floor. This mission, although unavoidably delayed by hurricanes and other disturbances, necessitates assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water and sea floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Development of the station has always included the possibility of expanding its capabilities to include biological monitoring, as a means of assessing environmental health. This possibility has recently achieved reality via the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology's (NIUST) solicitation for proposals for research to be conducted at the MS/SFO. Establishment of the Consortium has succeeded in fulfilling the critical need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and communicate effectively among researchers in the arena of gas hydrates research. Complementary expertise, both scientific and technical, has been assembled to promote innovative research methods and construct necessary instrumentation. The observatory has achieved a microbial dimension in addition to the geophysical and geochemical components it had already included. Initial components of the observatory, a probe that collects pore-fluid samples and another that records sea floor temperatures, were deployed in Mississippi Canyon 118 in May of 2005. Follow-up deployments, planned for fall 2005, have had to be postponed and the use of the vessel M/V Ocean Quest and its two manned submersibles sacrificed due to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina (and later, Rita) on the Gulf Coast. Every effort is being made to locate and retain the services of a replacement vessel and submersibles or Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) but these efforts have been fruitless due to the demand for these resources in the tremendous recovery effort being made in the Gulf area. Station/observatory completion, anticipated for 2007, will likely be delayed by at least one year. The seafloor monitoring station/observatory is funded approximately equally by three federal Agencies: Minerals Management Services (MMS) of the Department of the Interior (DOI), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST), an agency of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Subcontractors with FY03 funding fulfilled their technical reporting requirements in the previous report (41628R10). Only unresolved matching funds issues remain and will be addressed in the report of the University of Mississippi's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.},
doi = {10.2172/883711},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/883711}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2006},
month = {Thu May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2006}
}