Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind (Atlantic Shores) has announced the launch of two buoys that will collect atmospheric and weather data, and track the migration of species of birds, fish, turtles and other animals that have been nanotagged by researchers.
Each buoy will be deployed in the offshore wind developer’s Lease Area off the coast of Atlantic City to strengthen atmospheric models that help inform how the developer designs and estimates energy production for their proposed project. The buoys will be launched in May 2021 with the atmospheric data collection instruments and this fall the sensors will be added to begin collecting migration and stop-over data of turtles, bird species, fish and other species which may be nanotagged, including bats and large insects. The sensors will collect data on the unique signature emitted by each tag, including animal location, migration speed between points, length of stop-over and other aspects about their behavior and conservation. The buoy deployment is the latest stage of progress for Atlantic Shores as they continue to study their Lease Area for the eventual build out of over 3GW of offshore wind.
