NCCOS Assessment: A Wind Energy Siting Analysis for the Gulf of Mexico Call Area, 1993-01-01 to 2022-03-04 (NCEI Accession 0277985)

Submission Package ID: 4XKJXC

Methods:
1. Study area polygons with a 4.05 ha (10 ac) hexagonal grid was created using the extent of BOEM’s Gulf of Mexico Call Area.

2. Each data layer was scored on a 0 to 1 scale, with scores approaching 0 representing low suitability and 1 representing high suitability relative to the other grid cells for offshore wind. Any grid that contained a data layer with a 0 score (i.e., constraints data layer) was deemed unsuitable for offshore wind, and not considered further in the analysis. Next, an overall suitability score was calculated for each submodel (i.e., national security, industry and operations, natural and cultural resources, fisheries, logistics, and economics) by taking the geometric mean of all scores within each grid cell. The geometric mean of the six submodels was used to calculate an overall suitability score.

3. Suitability scores are presented as categories (“Unsuitable,” “Low,” “Moderately Low”, “Moderate,” “Moderately High”, “High”) grouped by quantiles of the calculated scores, with all scores of 0 being in the “Unsuitable” category and represented by the color red. Within the suitability submodel and overall model maps, standardized colors were used to depict categories, with orange representing “Low,” yellow “Moderately Low,” light green “Moderate”, medium green “Moderately High”, and forest green “High” suitability and coinciding with each proportion of quantile values. With all suitability maps, relative categories still represent values ranging from 0 to 1, with the “Low” category representing the lowest quantile of the data, “Moderate” the middle quantile, and “High” the upper quantile. Presenting categories rather than actual suitability scores simplified interpretation of results and provided optimal contrast among categories. Further, distribution of scores varies among the suitability submodels (e.g. number of data layers, score range of data distribution depicted); for example, in one submodel a score of 0.5 could be classified as “High,” while in another submodel or region a score of 0.5 could be “Low” because the scores are relative. Thus, suitability scores among the different submodels should not be compared, as the score is unique to each submodel.

File Information:
Total File Size:
18 files in 1 folder, 30.2 MB unzipped, 8.02 MB zipped