Empire Wind Digital Aerial Wildlife Surveys for BOEM Lease Area OCS-A 0512, Equinor Wind US LLC, November 2017-October 2018

APEM Inc. and Normandeau Associates Inc.

Equinor Wind US, LLC were committed to undertaking a Construction and Operation Plan (COP) of their lease area located in the New York Bight (OCS-A 0512), now called Empire Wind. To facilitate this, 12 surveys were undertaken by APEM Inc. and Normandeau Associates, Inc. (Normandeau-APEM Team) between November 2017 and October 2018 to provide baseline information for consideration in the assessment of potential impacts. Additional surveys were collected between February 2019 and December 2019 and can be accessed https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/2159.

Equinor initiated monthly offshore high resolution aerial surveys of marine mega-fauna in the New York Bight offshore wind lease area plus a 4 km (2.5 mile) buffer. The surveys used APEM Inc.'s ultra-high resolution aerial digital still imagery to characterize birds present in the lease area and gather additional information on other marine fauna. These surveys provided the baseline information required for conducting impact assessments. The dataset is comprised of observations and survey track line information collected from one survey per month from November 2017 until October 2018 inclusive (12 surveys in total).

APEM Inc. and Normandeau Associates, Inc. (Normandeau–APEM team) extracted and identified avian and other marine species and provided quality control (QC) of the results.

[2021-08-23] No-animal objects (e.g. boats) were given species names and codes. These wrong assignments are corrected.

Each record represents 1 individual (except for Fish Shoals which is one entry per 1 shoal encompassing uncounted number of fish).

Locations of digital snapshots are available as a static point layer.

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)
snagid	Unique ID for target
survey	Survey identifier in format Equinor_YYYY MMM
datetaken	Date image taken, in local time (EST) (displayed as dd/mm/yyyy)
timetaken	Time image taken, in local time (EST) (hh:mm:ss)
idtype	1st level of identification
idsubtype	2nd level of identification Target group type if identified Unid. Type = Target has been reviewed and cannot be identified to a subtype
idspecies	3rd level of identification Common Name if identified 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
idconfidsp	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
surface	Depth rating. blank = not rated
headingdeg	Direction of target (degrees)
listed	Yes = Species/Species Group status is listed
parentimag	Image name where target is located
latitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
longitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
sargassum	Sargassum is present in image with target. 1 = present; 0 = not present; blank = not evaluated
scientific	Scientific name if species is identified
family	Family if species is identified
lineid	Survey line number
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 (mean values) 0 Clear 1 Slightly Turbid 2 Moderately Turbid 3 Highly Turbid
precipdura	Precipitation duration in time (minutes)
cloud	Okta scale (used for Nov-17 and Dec-17 - 0 to 8 with 0 denoting completely clear, and 8 denoting completely overcast) Clear = 0 Few = 1 to 2 Scattered = 3 to 4 Broken = 5 to 7 Overcast = 8 Clound Cover Percentage (used for Jan-18 to Oct-18 - highest %) 0-10% Clear 11-15% Scattered 51-94% Broken 95-100% Overcast
airtemp_c	Air Temperature (°Celsius)
pressure	Pressure (hPA/inHg)
windspeed	Wind Speed (kts)
winddirect	Wind Direction (degrees or compass direction)
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP