In-Situ Habitat Characterization of Offshore Wind Power Sites: Developing Techniques for Sampling Image Data Sets

The United States is the second largest consumer of energy in the world, the vast majority of which comes from fossil fuels (84.3%), whereas renewable energy constitutes only 5.8 %. The State of Maryland, USA has designated 94 nmi² of seafloor for wind energy development in the OCS. In order to mitigate possible environmental impacts of wind turbine installation, we conducted habitat characterization of seafloor habitats and epibenthic communities in the northern OCS blocks of the Maryland wind energy area. Seven transects of 5 km length were surveyed using a towed underwater sled with downward-facing digital camera that captured 5 frames/sec, with additional small-mesh beam trawling at selected locations.  We compared sampling designs using from 4 to 20% of total frames sampled either randomly or systematically at various intervals. The results of this research have allowed us to define distinct epibenthic communities that are associated with offshore wind energy sites and to develop a sampling technique for digital images that can be applied to other research programs.