93bb9cb2-7ff0-4f19-8031-0e577b99f9cd English series series 2026-03-30T13:36:23 MEDIN 3.1.2 biota environment oceans Temperature of the water column SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2023-12-12 revision Temperature variation in the water column SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2023-12-12 revision Habitat characterisation SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2023-12-12 revision Salinity of the water column SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2023-12-12 revision Sea regions GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2009-07-31 revision SeaDataNet sea areas 2012-11-07 revision North Sea SeaDataNet sea areas 2012-11-07 revision English Channel SeaDataNet sea areas 2012-11-07 revision Celtic Sea SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2020-05-21 revision water column SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2020-05-21 revision water column boundary layer 2024-09-01T00:00:00 2025-01-01T00:00:00 -11.5 8.7 48 61 TCE-4527 Marine Data Exchange 2024, University of Exeter and SMRU, Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme (OWEC), Similarity assessment of offshore windfarms (PrePARED) 2026-03-30T13:36:23 publication 2025-01-01T00:00:00 revision English 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. There will be no limitations when published on the Marine Data Exchange No Limitations when published on the MDE otherRestrictions 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 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 otherRestrictions The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk custodian The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk originator The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk distributor The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk owner notPlanned Documents https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/details/TCE-4527/summary A link to the web service or dataset. https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk A link to the general host site. Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08T00:00:00 publication Not Required in Project or MDE False series 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. The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk pointOfContact EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2022-11-29 revision WGS 84