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Metadata: 2024, University of Exeter and SMRU, Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme (OWEC), Similarity assessment of offshore windfarms (PrePARED)
Abstract:
This report compares the environmental conditions at offshore wind farms being studies in the OWEC funded PrePARED project in the Moray Firth (MF) and the Firth of Forth (FoF), Scotland, to wider UK marine area and other wind farms in the region. The analysis examined environmental variables, such as sea bottom temperature, salinity, water stratification, tidal speed, seabed slope, water depth, distance to shore and seabed substrate across four seasons. PrePARED is a collaborative research project, funded by the Offshore Wind Evidence & Change programme and Crown Estate Scotland. It concurrently studies predator (seabird and marine mammal) and prey (fish) distribution and behaviour in and around offshore wind farms, providing critical insight into cumulative effects from large scale development for key species. Bringing together expertise from government, academia, nature conservation agencies and industry, PrePARED will address critical knowledge gaps that are barriers to sustainable offshore wind development, required to help meet the government’s renewable energy targets and subsequently reach net zero.
Data holder:
The Crown Estate
| Other details | ||
| Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 19287 |
| Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | 2024, University of Exeter and SMRU, Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme (OWEC), Similarity assessment of offshore windfarms (PrePARED) |
| File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | 93bb9cb2-7ff0-4f19-8031-0e577b99f9cd |
| Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | TCE-4527 |
| Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | series |
| Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2024-09-01 |
| End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2025-01-01 |
| Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | notPlanned |
| Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | This report compares the environmental conditions at offshore wind farms being studies in the OWEC funded PrePARED project in the Moray Firth (MF) and the Firth of Forth (FoF), Scotland, to wider UK marine area and other wind farms in the region. The analysis examined environmental variables, such as sea bottom temperature, salinity, water stratification, tidal speed, seabed slope, water depth, distance to shore and seabed substrate across four seasons. PrePARED is a collaborative research project, funded by the Offshore Wind Evidence & Change programme and Crown Estate Scotland. It concurrently studies predator (seabird and marine mammal) and prey (fish) distribution and behaviour in and around offshore wind farms, providing critical insight into cumulative effects from large scale development for key species. Bringing together expertise from government, academia, nature conservation agencies and industry, PrePARED will address critical knowledge gaps that are barriers to sustainable offshore wind development, required to help meet the government’s renewable energy targets and subsequently reach net zero. |
| Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | The study utilised multiple environmental datasets from authoritative sources including the Copernicus Marine Service, CEDA, GEBCO, EEA, NOC, and EMOD Network. These datasets originally had varying spatial resolutions and were harmonised using a standardised spatial grid framework of 12.5 km by 12.5 km cells to enable consistent analysis. A similarity analysis was conducted to compare environmental conditions between the PrePARED wind farm sites and the broader UK and European marine environment, producing scores ranging from 1 (perfect similarity) to -1 (perfect dissimilarity). Multicollinearity among environmental variables was assessed using Spearman correlations, with depth and distance to shore variables subsequently removed due to their strong correlation with other variables. Wind farm metadata was primarily sourced from the 4COffshore database and cross-referenced with developer websites, covering 96 UK offshore sites including operational farms and planned developments. This approach enabled seasonal assessments of environmental similarity and statistical analysis of patterns related to wind farm status and foundation types. |
| Related keywords | ||
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Temperature of the water column |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Temperature variation in the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Habitat characterisation | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Salinity of the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Sea regions | |
| Geographical coverage | ||
| North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 61 |
| East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 8.7 |
| South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 48 |
| West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -11.5 |
| Responsible organisations | ||
| Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The owner is the person or organisation that owns the resource. | owner |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Resource locators | ||
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/details/TCE-4527/summary |
| Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk | |
| Dataset constraints | ||
| 20.1 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 20.2 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | There will be no limitations when published on the Marine Data Exchange | |
| No Limitations when published on the MDE | ||
| 21.1 Conditions for Access and Use - Use constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 21.2 Conditions for Access and Use - Other constraints | This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | Data Must be used in accordance to the Marine Data Exchange's Terms of Use: https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/content/info/terms-of-use |
| This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | Data Must be used in accordance to the Marine Data Exchange's Terms of Use: https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/content/info/terms-of-use | |
| Version info | ||
| Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2026-03-30 |
| Date of last revision | The most recent date that the resource was revised. | 2025-01-01 |
| Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2026-04-19 |
| Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2026-03-30 |
| Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN |
| Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | 3.1.2 |