Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - OPA 2018

Original provider:
NYSERDA, APEM, Normandeau Associates

Dataset credits:
NYSERDA, Normandeau Associates Inc., APEM Ltd.

Abstract:
In support of New York State's commitment to incorporating offshore
wind into its energy portfolio, the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority (NYSERDA) embarked on a multi-year ultra-
high resolution aerial digital survey of marine resources in a 43,745.20
km2 (12,754.06 mi2) offshore planning area (OPA) in 2016. The OPA
encompasses the waters of the New York Bight from Long Island
southeast to the continental shelf break. Surveys are conducted on a
quarterly basis, timed to coincide with periods of abundance of avian
and marine species that could be vulnerable to impacts from offshore
wind activities. Each survey collected images covering at least 7% of
the OPA.

For each survey, approximately 300,000 images were collected within
the OPA using a transect design. During the first survey year, special
attention was also paid to the wind energy area (WEA) using a more
detailed grid survey design, collecting around 100,000 images. Each
survey collected images covering at least 10% of the WEA. WEA survey
data are in a separate dataset.There was some variation in sampling
effort among surveys as a different camera system that captured a
larger footprint was used after the Summer 2016 survey.YR3 consists
of Survey09 Summer2018, Survey10 Fall2018, Survey11 Winter2018-
19, Survey12 Spring2019.