ORCID

0000-0001-6710-4371 (Hofmann)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

DOI

10.5670/oceanog.2025.304

Publication Title

Oceanography

Volume

38

Issue

2

Pages

36-39

Abstract

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a committee in June 2023 to assess the potential hydrodynamic and ecological impacts from offshore wind energy development in the Nantucket Shoals region, with particular attention to impacts on the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) that forages on zooplankton aggregations in the region. The assessment suggested that the effects of offshore wind energy development will be difficult to distinguish from the effects of natural variability and climate change in this region. The Consensus Study Report recommendations highlight observational and modeling studies that will advance understanding of potential hydrodynamic effects and impacts on the ecology of the region. A subsequent workshop provided guidance on observational needs and approaches for a field monitoring program to advance model capability to simulate effects of offshore wind energy development on Nantucket Shoals hydrodynamics and ecology. Observational and modeling programs implemented for the Nantucket Shoals region will inform other regions of the US East Coast continental shelf that have been designated for offshore wind energy development.

Rights

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.

Original Publication Citation

Hofmann, E. E., Carpenter, J. R., Chen, Q. J., Kohut, J. T., Merrick, R. L., Meyer-Gutbrod, E. L., Nowacek, D. P., Raghukumar, K., Record, N. R., & Oskvig, K. (2025). From wind to whales: Potential hydrodynamic impacts of offshore wind energy on Nantucket Shoals regional ecology. Oceanography, 38(2), 36-39. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025.304.

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