Atlantic Coast News

Illustration (Credit: Venterra Group)

Venterra Geoscience On Call for Nova Scotia’s Offshore Wind

Venterra Group, the global offshore wind services company, has secured a contract to assess metocean data collection needs that will assist with offshore wind farm development off Canada's Atlantic Coast.Amidst a surge in interest in offshore wind power, Canada hopes to harness its expansive wind resources to fulfil its clean energy and climate ambitions, with Nova Scotia planning to offer seabed leases for up to an equivalent of 5 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.Venterra Group’s specialized unit Venterra Geoscience, with its track record of international consultancy, will collate

Photo courtesy Mark Fuhrmann

Mark's Epic Journey: 268 Days 1643 Hours, 6,800 Miles in a Kayak

States.In doing so, he becomes the first person to solo kayak the ‘Greater Loop’ circuit, beginning (and ending) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and traversing the Great Lakes, the Illinois, the Mississippi, the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers, before hitting the Gulf of Mexico and heading up the Atlantic Coast.A smiling, but understandably exhausted Fuhrmann, stepped out of his kayak – possibly for the last time – greeting well-wishers with the memorable line “can I get a beer please?” As it transpired, he got more than one.The Canadian native, who relocated to Oslo, Norway

© Vadim / Adobe Stock

Alliance Says No Link Between Offshore Wind Surveys and Mammal Deaths

along New Jersey's coastline since December 5, prompting concern that they are related to offshore wind development in the region.The Alliance says it aims to address misconceptions that offshore wind geoscience surveys have contributed to marine mammal deaths on New Jersey’s shore and the Atlantic Coast. The letter claims there is no link between seismic and other geoscience surveys for offshore wind projects and recent marine mammal deaths and includes historical evidence showing that geoscience surveys have been conducted extensively for over six decades around the world without any direct

© Andrea Izzotti / Adobe Stock

Underwater Noise is a Threat to Marine Life

in Japan.Despite these vocal adaptations, noise can negatively affect animals’ feeding behavior and increase physiological stress. Research found that a reduction in shipping following the 9/11 terrorist attacks led to a six decibel drop in noise levels in the Bay of Fundy on Canada’s Atlantic coast. This coincided with lower levels of physiological stress detected in North Atlantic right whales when researchers measured stress hormones from floating whale faeces.The COVID-19 lockdowns also led to previously busy waterways being used more frequently by large marine animals. For example,

Three of the common types of floating wind turbine platform. (Image: Josh Bauer/NREL)

How Do Floating Wind Turbines Work?

forward on a plan to develop the nation’s first floating offshore wind farms. On Dec. 7, 2022, the federal government auctioned off five lease areas about 20 miles off the California coast to companies with plans to develop floating wind farms. The bids were lower than recent leases off the Atlantic coast, where wind farms can be anchored to the seafloor, but still significant, together exceeding US$757 million.So, how do floating wind farms work?Three main ways to float a turbineA floating wind turbine works just like other wind turbines – wind pushes on the blades, causing the rotor to

© prochym / Adobe Stock

West Africa’s Oceans at Risk Because of a Lack of Monitoring

The West African Canary Current extends along the north-west African coast, from the northern Atlantic coast of Morocco to Guinea-Bissau. It’s a hotspot for changes in the oceans driven by climate change. These include rising temperatures, ocean acidification and ocean deoxygenation. All affect marine life on multiple levels.The current is one of the world’s most productive ocean ecosystems, a consequence of the upwelling of cold and nutrient-rich waters. Ecosystems like this provide around 20% of global fish catches and support livelihoods in coastal communities.From 2016 -2019, we worked

©Marine Power Systems

Marine Power Systems, WavEC to Deploy Modular Floating Wind System in Portugal

;Marco Alves, CEO at WavEC commented, “For many years now, WavEC (and Portugal) has been a leader in promoting marine renewable energies, both from technology and market development standpoints. We always welcome companies to test and demonstrate their technologies in an open deep-water Atlantic coast environment as the one in Viana do Castelo. We look forward to working with MPS on the deployment of their technology, providing support in licensing and consenting, environmental monitoring and impact assessment, performance assessment, and engaging with the supply chain.&rdquo

Lumen establishes a new subsea fiber route between New York and Bude, Cornwall in the U.K.

Grace Hopper Subsea Cable ups Capacity

has owned and operated global subsea networks for more than 20 years. The company has a comprehensive trans-Atlantic subsea portfolio with six on-net diverse fiber routes, including Dunant, a Google subsea system. Dunant connects Virginia Beach in the U.S. with Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez on the French Atlantic coast. Lumen has an on-net route utilizing Dunant between Richmond, Virginia and Paris, France.Global businesses and wholesale providers will have access to secure, diverse trans-Atlantic network options connecting to Lumen's global 450,000 route fiber mile network.Lumen is taking orders now on

Researchers developed a net to collect samples through a paddle surfboard. (Photo: Anna Sanchez-Vidal / University of Barcelona)

Surfing Scientists Hunt Microplastics Off Spanish Beaches

mixed with tiny pieces of plastic.Created by the University of Barcelona in 2020, the "Surfing for Science" project to study microplastic pollution in shallow areas inaccessible to oceanographic research ships is now expanding from the Mediterranean coast in Spain's northeast to the Atlantic coast in the northwest.It has involved 300 volunteers over the past two years and will now bring in more "citizen scientists" in the regions of Catalonia and the Basque Country who are trained to collect the samples and work on all stages of the study, project coordinators said.Experts and

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