Marine Benthic Habitats and Seabed Suitability Mapping for Potential Ocean Current Energy Siting Offshore Southeast Florida

This study examines the legal framework for ocean current energy policy and regulation to develop a metric for assessing the biological and geological characteristics of a seabed area with respect to the siting of OCE devices, a framework of criteria by which to assess seabed suitability (seabed suitability framework) that can facilitate the siting, and implementation of ocean current energy (OCE) projects. Seafloor geology and benthic biological data were analyzed in conjunction with seafloor core sample geostatistical interpolation to locate suitable substrates for OCE anchoring. Existing submarine cable pathways were considered to determine pathways for power transmission cables that circumvent biologically sensitive areas. Suitability analysis indicates that areas east of the Miami Terrace and north of recently identified deep-sea coral mounds are the most appropriate for OCE siting due to abundance of sand/sediment substrate, existing underwater cable route access, and minimal biological presence (i.e., little to no benthic communities). Further reconnaissance requires higher resolution maps of geological substrate and benthic community locations to identify specific OCE development locations, classify benthic conditions, and minimize potentially negative OCE environmental impacts.

[1]  Jianguo Wu,et al.  The modifiable areal unit problem and implications for landscape ecology , 1996, Landscape Ecology.

[2]  D. Swanson,et al.  On MAPE-R as a measure of cross-sectional estimation and forecast accuracy 1 , 2007 .

[3]  Aaron Christ,et al.  Mixed Effects Models and Extensions in Ecology with R , 2009 .

[4]  K John,et al.  HABITAT ANd FAUNA OF dEEP-WATER LopheLia pertuSa CORAL REEFS OFF THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S.: BLAkE PLATEAU, STRAITS OF FLORIdA, ANd GULF OF MEx ICO , 2006 .

[5]  Marc Van Meirvenne,et al.  Multivariate geostatistics for the predictive modelling of the surficial sand distribution in shelf seas , 2006 .

[6]  N. Glasser,et al.  Glacial Geology: Ice Sheets and Landforms , 1996 .

[7]  Johannes Forkman,et al.  Estimator and Tests for Common Coefficients of Variation in Normal Distributions , 2009 .

[8]  Karl D. von Ellenrieder,et al.  Anchor selection study for ocean current turbines , 2014 .

[9]  M. Ewing,et al.  Sediment Distribution in the Oceans: The Atlantic , 1973 .

[10]  D. Lirman,et al.  Coral communities of Biscayne Bay, Florida and adjacent offshore areas: diversity, abundance, distribution, and environmental correlates , 2003 .

[11]  J. Li.  Predicting the spatial distribution of seabed gravel content using random forest , spatial interpolation methods and their hybrid methods , 2013 .

[12]  R. Dodge,et al.  Mapping Coral Reef Habitats in Southeast Florida Using a Combined Technique Approach , 2008 .

[13]  Andrew G. Keeler,et al.  Permitting, Risk and Marine Hydrokinetic Energy Development , 2013 .

[14]  S. M. García,et al.  2014: , 2020, A Party for Lazarus.

[15]  Frederick T. Short,et al.  A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems , 2006 .

[16]  Alain F. Zuur,et al.  A protocol for data exploration to avoid common statistical problems , 2010 .

[17]  G.B.M. Heuvelink,et al.  A disposition of interpolation techniques , 2010 .

[18]  C. Willmott,et al.  Advantages of the mean absolute error (MAE) over the root mean square error (RMSE) in assessing average model performance , 2005 .

[19]  Charles G. Messing,et al.  Siting Study for a Hydrokinetic Energy Project Located Offshore Southeastern Florida: Protocols for Survey Methodology for Offshore Marine Hydrokinetic Energy Projects , 2012 .

[20]  Michelle E. Portman,et al.  Marine Renewable Energy Policy: Some US and International Perspectives Compared , 2010 .

[21]  J. Goff,et al.  Seabed mapping and characterization of sediment variability using the usSEABED data base , 2008 .

[22]  F. M. Wateren.  Glacial geology?ice sheets and landforms , 2000 .

[23]  Howard P. Hanson,et al.  The Florida Current: A Clean but Challenging Energy Resource , 2011 .

[24]  R. J. Taylor,et al.  Interaction of Anchors with Soil and Anchor Design , 1982 .

[25]  Roger H. Charlier,et al.  Electrical power generation from ocean currents in the Straits of Florida: Some environmental considerations , 2009 .

[26]  G. Fader,et al.  An overview of seabed-mapping technologies in the context of marine habitat classification , 2000 .

[27]  R. Spieler,et al.  Relationship of Reef Fish Assemblages and Topographic Complexity on Southeastern Florida Coral Reef Habitats , 2009 .

[28]  H. Matsumoto,et al.  Seafloor acoustic remote sensing with multibeam echo-sounders and bathymetric sidescan sonar systems , 1993 .

[29]  Howard P. Hanson,et al.  Power from the Florida Current: A New Perspective on an Old Vision , 2010 .

[30]  Chris Jenkins,et al.  usSEABED: Atlantic coast offshore surficial sediment data release , 2005 .