Houston – The NAS UGOS Initiative Workshop

Join us for a 1-day workshop to learn about the National Academy of Sciences, Gulf Research Program to Understand the Gulf of Mexico Ocean System (UGOS).

The UGOS Program seeks to support activities that will supply new observations, analyses, and modeling needed to advance our understanding of Loop Current dynamics for the purpose of improving predictive skills of the Loop Current and associated eddies, referred to as the Loop Current System (LCS).

This workshop, hosted by the Society for Underwater Technology in the U.S. (SUT-US) and Loop Current & Eddies Alliance (LCEA), will focus on the current activities in the UGOS initiative and opportunities to form effective partnerships and collaboration with the Gulf Of Mexico oceanographic and energy communities as the program progresses into a long term program. The goal is to bring together the industry and research oceanographic community, engineers and offshore operators, and other stakeholders whose have an interest in learning about the current program and who are interested in developing future partnerships and collaboration in the program.

Workshop agenda:

• Introduction to the UGOS Program and future opportunities – Kelly Oskvig (Program Officer, Gulf Research Program).
• Taking the Pulse of the West Florida Shelf at a Hypothesized Loop Current Control Point – Bob Weisberg (University of South Florida).
• Autonomously observing density structure and deep velocities in the Loop Current – Heather Furey (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution).
• The making of a successful industry/research collaboration to extend the understanding of the Loop Current Eddy system – Pak Leung (Shell), Marcus Ogle (Fugro).
• Loop Current Observations from High Frequency Radar Across the Yucatan Strait, Dry Tortugas and Lower Keys – Steve DiMarco (Texas A&M University).
• Extending the range of High Frequency Radar Systems by installations on offshore platforms – Ruth Perry (Shell).
• Numerical Modelling and forecasting of the Loop Current – Ruoying He (North Carolina State University).
• Serving observational data to the UGOS scientific community – Jan van Smirren (GCOOS).
• Leveraging BSEE NTL Data into the UGOS program – Rafael Ramos (WHG-CLS).
• Panel Session (with a focus on collaboration between oceanographic community and the energy industry).

For more information please click here.