Green Canyon is an area in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

that is rich in oil fields and under the jurisdiction of the

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, established in 2010 by Secretarial Order. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) states: "...the outer Continental Shelf is a v ...

. Among other oil fields Green Canyon consist of

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

(blocks 699, 700, 742, 743, and 744) operated by BP, Marco Polo (block 608) and K2 (blocks 518 and 562) operated by

Anadarko Petroleum Anadarko Petroleum Corporation was a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It was organized in Delaware and headquartered in two skyscrapers in The Woodlands, Texas: the Allison Tower and the Hackett Tower, both named after former CEOs of ...

Manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living speci ...

(block 155) operated by

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

, Shenzi (blocks 609, 610, 653, and 654) operated by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

, Droshky (block 244) operated by Marathon Oil, and Tahiti (blocks 596, 597, 640 and 641) operated by

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...

. Block 185 of Green Canyon is known as Bush Hill and is a well known

cold seep A cold seep (sometimes called a cold vent) is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool. ''Cold'' does not mean that the temperature of the see ...

with a wide array of tube worms. This area was the first place in the Gulf of Mexico where

gas hydrates Clathrate hydrates, or gas hydrates, clathrates, hydrates, etc., are crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice, in which small non-polar molecules (typically gases) or polar molecules with large hydrophobic moieties are trapped i ...

were recovered in piston cores. Additionally, like most of the Gulf of Mexico, there is a significant amount of

salt tectonics upright=1.7 Salt tectonics, or halokinesis, or halotectonics, is concerned with the geometries and processes associated with the presence of significant thicknesses of evaporites containing rock salt within a stratigraphic sequence of rocks. This ...

. Blocks in this protraction area are defined in UTM zone 15 north in feet.

Climate

As recorded by a station in Block 184, the air above Green Canyon has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Af''), with warm winters and extremely oppressive summers and very low

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak da ...

year-round (especially in summer), expected for its location far from any landmasses. Experiencing the purest Gulf influences possible, Green Canyon's summer nighttime low temperatures are some of the highest on Earth for any non-

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

location, at least counting those on land. Temperatures below freezing are unknown. The hot, humid air and warm water during summer and autumn can facilitate the development and sustainment of

tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...

, specifically Atlantic hurricanes, the water having surface temperatures above —the typical threshold for tropical development—from May 25 to October 31 on average, and reaching a maximum of on August 5. Precipitation is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, peaking in late summer at the height of the hurricane season, having a secondary peak in winter, and reaching its nadir in late spring.

References

{{Coord, 27.05, -90.45, display=title Submarine canyons of the Gulf of Mexico