Ecological Baseline Studies of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Option Year 1

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Normandeau Associates Inc., APEM Ltd.

Normandeau Associates, Inc., and APEM Inc. (Team) have been contracted by BOEM to complete quarterly high-altitude aerial digital surveys in a 12-month period. The Team proposes to conduct the first survey in February 2018 and complete all four surveys in the 2018 calendar year.

The South Atlantic Survey area (SASA) is defined as the area of the ocean off the coast of North and South Carolina out to the -30-m contour line. The approximate size of the area is 11,000 square nautical miles.

Transect surveys will cover a minimum of 5% of the SASA.In addition, 10% of the total area within the Kitty Hawk, Wilmington East, and Wilmington West Wind Energy Areas –as well as the South Carolina–Grand Stand Call Area will be surveyed.

The planned image resolution of all the imagery for the project will be 1.5-cm ground sampling distance at the surface of the ocean.

Option Year 1 includes four surveys of each these areas from Jan/Feb 2018 to Dec 2018.

N/A

The areas defined for survey were the South Atlantic Survey Area (SASA), Kitty Hawk (KH) Wind Energy Area (WEA), Wilmington East (WE) WEA, Wilmington West (WW) WEA, Grand Stand Call Area (GSCA), Charleston Call Area (CCA), and fish spawning areas SMZ 51 (A51) and SMZ 53 (A53). SASA surveys are linear transects flown in a saw tooth pattern out to the -30-m contour line along the entire South Carolina and North Carolina coasts. These surveys included the CCA, A51 and A53 areas. The overlap portion of SASA and CCA is designated “SASA,CCA”; the overlap portion of SASA and A51 is designated “SASA,A51”; and the overlap portion of SASA and A53 is designated “SASA,A53”.The WEAs and GSCA areas are grid surveys through the area plus a 1NM buffer.

GSCA and WW share survey overlap and that overlap portion is designated as “GSCA,WW”.The SASA survey area overlaps portions of CCA, A51 and A53 areas and overlapped areas are designated by the area name “SASA,CCA”; “SASA,A51”; or “SASA,A53”. GSCA and WW also share survey overlap and that area is designated by “GSCA,WW”.DISCLAIMERStudy concept, oversight, and funding were provided by the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Environmental Studies Program, Washington, DC, under Contract Number M17PC00010; Order M17PD00063. This report has been technically reviewed by BOEM, and it has been approved for publication. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the US Government, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
All attributes are included in the downloadable file (CSV or ESRI File Geodatabase) for "Complete Set of Dataset".

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
snag_id	Unique ID for target Each entry is 1 individual (except for Fish Shoals which is one entry per 1 shoal encompassing uncounted number of fish)
survey	Survey name
datetaken	Date image taken, in local time (EST)
timetaken	Time image taken, in local time (EST)
id_type	1st level of identification
id_subtype	2nd level of identification Target group type if identified Needs id = Target has not been reviewed for ID Unid. Type = Target has been reviewed and cannot be identified to a subtype
id_species	3rd level of identification Common Name if identified Needs id = Target has not been reviewed for ID species unknown = Target has been reviewed and cannot be identified to species
sp_tsn	Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
obs_count	Number of animals (always 1) added by OBIS-SEAMAP
id_confid	Confidence level of ID: Definite Probable Possible blank = not rated
lengthcm	Generally, head-to-tail length in cm. This is NOT turtle carapace. Ignored for non-animal & fish shoal. NULL = not determined
wingspancm	Wing span tip to tip in cm. 0 = wings are folded up/bird is sitting on surface. Applies to avian only
altitudem	definition not provided
alterror	definition not provided
surface	Depth rating. blank = not rated
headingdeg	Direction of target (in degrees)
listed	Yes = Species/Species Group status is listed (as of 2016)
parentimg	Image name where target is located
latitude	Latitude in decimal degrees (WGS84)
longitude	Longitude in decimal degrees (WGS84)
sargassum	Sargassum is present in image with target. 1 = present; 0 = not present; blank = not evaluated
area	Area - specific
genarea	Area - general
scientific	Scientific name if species is identified
family	Family if species is identified
transectid	definition not provided
transectno	definition not provided
shoalid	definition not provided
shlareasqm	definition not provided
shlextend	definition not provided
visibility	Visibility (greater than, km)
seastate	Sea State (mean values) 0 Calm (Glass) 1 Calm (Rippled) 2 Smooth 3 Slight 4 Moderate
glint	Glint Percentage (highest %)
turbidity	Turbidity visual estimation (mean values) 0 Clear 1 Slightly Turbid 2 Moderately Turbid 3 Highly Turbid
precipdura	Precipitation duration in time (minutes)
cloud	Clound Cover Percentage (highest %) 0-10% Clear 11-15% Scattered 51-94% Broken 95-100% Overcast
airtemp_c	Air Temperature (°Celsius)
pressure	Pressure (inHg)
windspeed	Wind Speed (kts)
winddirect	Wind Direction (degrees)
note_id_change	definition not provided
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP