Potential Hydrodynamic Impacts of Offshore Wind Energy on Nantucket Shoals Regional Ecology An Evaluation from Wind to Whales (2024) / Chapter Skim
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As part of the permitting process required to install and operate offshore wind farms, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) requires assessment of any potential associated ecosystem impacts.
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To date, few studies exist to assess the potential hydrodynamic and ecological impacts of offshore wind development, and those that do exist consist of modeling studies with limited observational data developed for wind farms in the North Sea, which have different hydrodynamic and ecosystem characteristics. Based on what is known, the impacts on ecosystems from development and operation of offshore
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Phytoplankton productivity is primarily controlled by water column stratification and seasonal solar insolation, with a dominant seasonal bloom in autumn/winter associated with a weaker stratification. Zooplankton forage on the phytoplankton produced in these seasonal blooms and most higher-trophic-level species associated with the Nantucket Shoals region feed either directly or indirectly on zooplankton found in FIGURE 2.1 Summer heating s nt rre Fresh water input Winter cooling, Wind Response Cu Convection Tidal mixing near shore Shelf Water Shallow bathymetry Seasonal Intrusion Eddy pycnocline Upwelling Jet Warm core ring 100m SHELF PROCESSES Weather & climate forcing Mesoscale and submesoscale physical response Ecosystem response FIGURE S.2 Schematic of shelf processes in the Nantucket Shoals region.
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UNDERSTANDING HYDRODYNAMIC EFFECTS As the wind blows across a turbine or wind farm, wind energy is extracted, thus creating a wind wake behind the turbine (Figure S.3) and reducing wind-driven circulation in the upper ocean.
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At the wind farm scale, the potential impacts include reductions in ocean current speeds, stratification, ocean surface wind speed, and deflection of the pycnocline.1 At the regional scale, perturbations due to offshore wind turbines are difficult to quantify because of the natural processes that drive significant environmental variability across the region. Given the significant uncertainties in the hydrodynamic response of the wind wake and ocean wake, hydrodynamic effects of turbines are difficult to isolate from natural and other anthropogenic variability (including climate change)
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The paucity of observations and uncertainty of the modeled hydrodynamic effects of wind energy installations make potential ecological impacts of offshore wind farms difficult to detect, particularly considering the scale of natural variability as well as other anthropogenic variability of the Nantucket Shoals region's evolving oceanography and ecology. Though studies exist, the spatial and temporal coverage of studies concentrated at the proposed wind energy lease sites do not adequately capture broad-scale right whale use of the Nantucket Shoals region and potential impacts from offshore wind farms.
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Given the limited state of understanding of the entire system and the changing oceanography and ecology, identification of substantial impacts on zooplankton, and specifically on right whale prey, that may result from wind energy development in the Nantucket Shoals region is difficult to assess. Recommendation: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and others should support, and where possible require, the collection of oceanographic and ecological observations through robust integrated monitoring programs within the Nantucket Shoals region and in the region surrounding wind energy areas before and during all phases of wind energy development: surveying, construction, operation, and decommis sioning.
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Recommendation: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and others should support, and where possible require, oceanographic and ecological modeling of the Nantucket Shoals region before and during all phases of wind energy development: surveying, construc tion, operation, and decommissioning. This critical information will help guide regional policies that protect right whales and improve predictions of ecological impacts from wind development at other lease sites.
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