Comprehensive Seafloor Substrate Mapping and Model Validation in the Atlantic

In September 2011, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) proposed an offshore wind power project south of Long Island, New York. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issues leases, easements and rights-of-way on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for activities that produce or support production, transportation, or transmission of energy from renewable energy sources. NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) conducted previous efforts to characterize the ocean floor offshore NY, and these previous efforts identified the need for further site-specific baseline habitat and geologic information within New York Wind Energy Area (NYWEA) and the Mid-Atlantic region. Therefore, BOEM worked with NOAA NCCOS to design the Comprehensive Seafloor Substrate Mapping and Model Validation in the Atlantic study, which included data collection and mapping of geophysical features on the seafloor, to evaluate the potential effect of proposed activities to biological, social, physical and economic resources, and provide sufficient baseline information on the area of potential effect from the proposed activity. The study area encompasses 50,082 km2 of coastal and ocean waters off the coast of New York. Analysis included state and federal waters from the southern shores of Long Island to the edge of the continental shelf and from Nantucket Shoals to the shores of New Jersey. Extensive acoustic and sediment sampling, ground validation, hard bottom predictions and sediment texture analysis were carried out by NOAA NCCOS.

USD: $1,450,000

2016-06-21 → 2019-06-30