URI researchers representing diverse disciplines have integrated their findings to provide stakeholders, including regulators, industry, and resource managers, with a clearer understanding of the interactions between the various living organisms within this diverse ecosystem and developed and monitored resources to establish baselines to measure change.
This has contributed to sound decision making for the siting, construction, and operation of offshore wind development, that has the least amount of impact on people and wildlife.
- Assessing Avian Fine-scale Movements Near the Block Island Wind Farm - We are assessing tern and plover fight behavior near the Block Island Wind Farm to determine exposure risk.
- Assessing Impacts of Offshore Development and Habitat Alteration on Distribution and Abundance of Birds - Assess impacts of such disturbances or alterations on bird distribution and abundance.
- Benthic Ecology study with Fugro Renewables, Cornwall, UK - Researchers collaborated with a marine ecologist from Cornwall UK to examine the impacts of offshore renewables on marine ecology, and reef effects.
- Benthic Monitoring during Wind Turbine Installation and Operation at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island. - This study gathered real-time data during the installation and initial operations of the Block Island wind turbine generators and provided benthic habitat information for U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
- Beyond the beach: Tradeoffs in tourism and recreation at the first offshore wind farm in the United States - Smythe, T., Bidwell, D., Moore, A., Smith, H., and McCann, J. 2020. Beyond the beach: Tradeoffs in tourism and recreation at the first offshore wind farm in the United States. Energy Research & Social Science, 70, 101726. Read full text.
- Design and Evaluation of Wave Energy Conversion Devices to Power Ocean Surveillance Systems and Sensor applications - The systems used the heave motion of the buoys to produce useful electrical power.
- Ecological Service Value Index (ESVI) for the Rhode Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP) - Design of a value index (macrositing tool) and application to the Ocean SAMP area.
- Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Impacts on Elasmobranch (sharks, rays, and skates) and American Lobster Movement and Migration from Direct Current Cables - Analysis of the effects of EMF on the behavior of sharks, rays, skates, and lobsters.
- Electromagnetic Field Impacts on American Eel Movement and Migration from Direct Current Cables. - Analysis of the effects of electromagnetic fields associated with the HVDC Cross Sound Cable on the American Eel.
- Electromagnetic field studies with marine and fisheries biologist, Pangalia Environmental, UK - URI and Gill Andrew, Pangalia Environmental, UK have collaborated on electromagnetic field studies funded by U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Deepwater Wind, and National Grid.
- EMF Study of the Block Island Wind Farm Export and Inter-Array Cables, New Shoreham, Rhode Island. - Surveys EMF levels along the sea2shore cable as well as statistical analysis of possible effects on marine organisms.
- Field Observations During Wind Turbine Foundation Installation at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island - The preliminary findings of the acoustic monitoring of the construction of the Block Island Wind Farm
- Gatekeeping and communities in energy system transition: A study of the Block Island Wind Farm - Gilbert, C., H. Smith, D. Bidwell, S. Smythe, A. Moore, J. McCann, and E. Miller. 2019. Gatekeeping and communities in energy system transition: A study of the Block Island Wind Farm. Environmental Communication. DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2018.1561484.
- Habitat Use and Selection of Black Scoters in Southern New England and Siting of Offshore Wind Energy Facilities - Regional black scoter study using satellite telemetry and spatial modeling techniques over 2 winters.
- Integrating social and ecological research on the impacts of offshore wind farms in North America - Talya ten Brink, Tracey Dalton, and Julia Livermore. Integrating social and ecological research on the impacts of offshore wind farms in North America. December 2020 (in press). In book: Researching people and the sea: methodologies and traditions. Chapter 11. Springer Nature / Palgrave Publishers. Read full text.
- Marine bird distribution, University of St. Andrews, UK - Researchers partnered with the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling at the University of St. Andrews, Fife, UK to estimate the density of marine birds in relation to offshore wind energy siting.
- Marine bird study with Aarhus University, Denmark - URI collaborated with National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University on the assessment of the effect of offshore wind energy development on marine birds.
- Marine spatial planning for the European Union - URI expert assisted the European Union (EU) and its member states in implementing the EU Marine Spatial Planning Directive.
- Modeling the impacts of hurricanes on proposed offshore energy sites in northeastern US - PhD student, Boma Kresning is employing an advanced coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling system to better understand hurricane loadings on proposed offshore wind farms in northeastern US as his PhD thesis.
- Offshore Wind Projects and Fisheries: Conflict and Engagement in the UK and the US - Claire Haggett, Talya ten Brink, Aaron Russell, Michael Roach, Jeremy Firestone, Tracey Dalton, and Bonnie J. McCay. 2020 (in press). Offshore Wind Projects and Fisheries: Conflict and Engagement in the UK and the US. Oceanography.
- Perceptions of commercial and recreational fishers on the potential ecological impacts of the Block Island Wind Farm (US) - ten Brink, T. S., & Dalton, T. 2018. Perceptions of commercial and recreational fishers on the potential ecological impacts of the Block Island Wind Farm (US). Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 439. Read full text
- Resource selection and wintering phenology of White-winged Scoters in southern New England: Implications for offshore wind energy development - Researchers used satellite telemetry to document the winter phenology and site fidelity, as well as fine-scale resource selection and habitat use, of 40 White-winged Scoters along the southern New England continental shelf.
- The Spatial Distribution, Abundance, and Flight Ecology of Birds in Nearshore and Offshore Waters of Rhode Island - This interim report for the Rhode Island Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) summarizes research from January 2009 through mid-February 2010.
- Understanding Marine Resource User Response to Ecological Impacts of Offshore Wind Energy: A Case Study of the Block Island Wind Farm - How the Block Island Wind Farm and its electricity transmission system affect the local marine ecosystem.
- Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Data Analyses for the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island - Methods, data, observations, results, and conclusions from analyses of underwater sound monitoring data that was collected during the construction of the Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF).
- URI on tap as first to employ new Bourne tidal test site at Cape Cod Canal - URI was the first user of the new Bourne Tidal Test Site recently installed in the Cape Cod Canal in Buzzards Bay