MMS ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM: ONGOING STUDIES
MMS OCS Region:	Gulf of Mexico
Planning Area:	Atlantic
Title:	North and Central Atlantic Information Resources: Data Search and Literature Synthesis (GM-07-02)
Total Cost: $410,043	Period of Performance: FY 2007-2009
Conducting Organization:	Mangi Environmental Group, Inc.
MMS Contact:	Stacie Merritt
Description: Background: The northern U.S. Atlantic seaboard between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and Canada has not been developed for potential oil and gas reserves. This temperate region is distinctive for the Atlantic coastline. It has unique physical oceanography, physiography, and zoogeography; several valuable fisheries; and characteristic weather patterns. It harbors a suite of protected coastal and offshore marine organisms including sea turtles, birds, fishes, and marine mammals, many of which are considered endangered or threatened. The last synthesis of physical oceanographic information in the US Atlantic coast conducted for MMS was in 1992 and indicated information gaps, including the main forcing of the mean southerly flow of the shelf and its variability, and the cross-shelf transport of water. Given the date of the review, and the certain advance in knowledge since then, a synthesis of knowledge is highly recommended, especially given our limited familiarity with this area. The MMS sand and gravel program has collected nearshore information during the 1990’s and beyond, which could be incorporated into the synthesis. Although MMS has conducted an extensive amount of social science research in the GOMR, much of this information cannot be easily transferred to the Atlantic coastal region. The Atlantic coastal area is characterized by high-density, multicultural, urban, and maritime populations. Many communities in the region have very limited or no history of offshore energy production. The literature synthesis and baseline data will help in understanding these communities and in predicting how they will be able to respond to potential renewable and alternative energy development. In the Atlantic Region, the ESP has been limited to pre-lease descriptive and process-type investigations in recent years since there has been no production in that area. The recent surge in energy prices and alternative energy initiatives may result in future leasing activity in the Atlantic Region.
Objectives: The objectives of the study are: · to develop comprehensive information on the human and environmental aspects of the region; and · to update the understanding of the ecological communities, the dominant oceanographic and other processes that drive the shelf and deep-sea ecosystems, and the potential sensitivities of the area.
Methods: The data search and synthesis will be a comprehensive search and integration of existing environmental and socioeconomic information for the region. The relative contributions of physical oceanographic processes to cross-shelf transport will be evaluated, as will the contributions of buoyancy and meteorological forcing to seawater transport. Period of performance is expected to be 24 months, with a deliverable report after 20 months.
Products: The product to be delivered is a literature synthesis report.
Importance to MMS: The MMS will need updated and synthesized Atlantic OCS information on human and environmental aspects of the region, in order to meet its responsibility of ensuring that all OCS activities are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. The recent surge in energy prices and alternative energy initiatives may result in future alternative energy leasing activity in the Atlantic Region.
Current Status: Geo-database meeting completed. Contract modification may be needed.
Final Report Due:	September 2009
Publications:	None
Affiliated WWW Sites:	None
Revised date:	April 2008
ESPIS	ESPIS - All completed ESP Studies: Full Text, Online, Right Now! Environmental Studies Program Information System