Louisiana-Texas Shelf Physical Oceanography Program

The Louisana-Texas Shelf Physical Oceanography Program (LATEX) is a six-year oceanographic research initiative that has as its principal objective the identification of key dynamical processes governing the circulation, transport, and cross-shelf mixing of the waters on the Texas-Louisiana shelf. Sponsored by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the Department of the Interior, LATEX is one of the largest shelf physical oceanography research project ever undertaken.

MMS manages federal mineral resources on the continental shelf. To meet its environmental and managerial responsibilities, the Service needs to understand physical processes and circulation on the shelf and how they may affect the stability of structures and the transport of pollutants. In addition, shelf circulation data can be used in oil spill risk analysis models.

The LATEX Program has three components, with the objectives of studying Mississippi River plume hydrography (LATEX B, administered by Louisiana State University), Gulf of Mexico eddy circulation (LATEX C, by Science Applications International Corporation), and shelf circulation and transport processes. The latter component, LATEX A, is the responsibility of a group directed by Worth Nowlin within the College of Geosciences and Maritime Studies at Texas A&M University. LATEX A is the largest of the three studies; the primary area of observations and analyses encompasses the middle and outer Texas-Louisiana continental shelf, from the Mississippi River to the Rio Grande.