GM-22-02: Live forecasts of migratory bird movements offshore to monitor potential avian interactions with wind development

Description

While the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has established an- active offshore conventional energy industry, no offshore renewable infrastructure yet exists in the region. However, interest in offshore wind is growing in the GOM. For example, Louisiana’s governor requested that BOEM establish a renewable energy task force for the development of offshore wind in Federal GOM waters. Two studies published in 2020 determined that offshore wind has promising resource potential in offshore areas of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. During spring and fall migration, significant numbers of birds migrate offshore at night in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. These diverse populations may lethally interact with offshore wind energy infrastructure. The objectives of this study are to: Modify migratory bird forecasts created by Cornell University to extend the terrestrial models of BirdCast to include offshore regions. Create real-time interactive maps of offshore migration for managers and the public to access. The study will develop an initial analytical pipeline using NOAA’s Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) imagery at locations nearest to the coast and for locations with heavy migratory bird traffic rates (e.g., Brownsville and Corpus Christi, TX). This first step is meant to calibrate the models to detect and filter bird-like scattering in the imagery for areas with heavy seasonal migration. After calibration, the modeling framework will be applied to imagery collected from different NEXRAD stations close to the coast.

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