07-25-2014
The Environmental Studies Program (ESP) announces the availability of final results of studies posted to the website between April 1 and June 30, 2014. The list includes the titles with a web link to each report or technical summary. The quarter’s new postings relay findings from BOEM’s regional and national studies.
They include reports on:
- Alaska: Cross Island whaling activities in the Beaufort Sea; and the behavior of polar bears on the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
- Atlantic: Air quality and meteorological data; the new, comprehensive EcoSpatial Information Database (ESID) linking scientific literature, data sets and GIS information on environmental resources; and a new roadmap for evaluating renewable energy technologies and environmental resources related to offshore renewable energy.
- Gulf of Mexico: Analysis of loop current data near 45 oil and gas platforms offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama; and updated oil spill risk analysis models.
- Pacific: Determining the potential release of contaminants into the marine environment from Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) shell mounds, which is pertinent to platform decommissioning decisions.
- Marine Minerals: Characterization of underwater sounds produced by trailing suction hopper dredges during sand extraction; and biological and wave model analysis within borrow sites offshore Florida’s northeast shelf.
- National: Quieting technologies for reducing noise during seismic surveying and pile driving; and related to offshore renewable energy, the effects of electromagnetic fields from undersea power cables on elasmobranchs and other marine species.
BOEM's ESP develops, conducts and oversees world-class scientific research specifically to inform decisions regarding development of the OCS.
The Environmental Studies Program Information System (ESPIS) makes all completed ESP reports available on-line as full electronic pdf documents, including images and graphics. Technical summaries of over 1,200 BOEM-sponsored environmental research projects and over 3,400 research reports are available for online search. To explore the ESPIS collection spanning 40 years, click here.
For additional information on BOEM's Environmental Studies Program, including how to find out about research opportunities, click here. You can also follow our science on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.