Environmental Scientist Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Presentation Description: Tethys (https://tethys.pnnl.gov) is a free online database that serves as a one-stop shop for information on the environmental effects of offshore wind (OSW) energy. The Tethys Knowledge Base contains over 5,400 documents that can be easily searched and sorted to find content relevant to specific topics, such as collision risk for birds and bats or underwater noise effects. Additional resources include the Tethys Blast newsletter, an events calendar, archived webinars, and educational summaries. Tethys also serves as a dissemination platform for the U.S. Offshore Wind Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research (SEER) and Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy (WREN), two efforts that aim to advance understanding of the environmental effects of OSW in the US and around the world. The latest addition to Tethys is the Wind Energy Monitoring & Mitigation Technologies Tool, which provides information on monitoring and mitigation solutions, their state of development, and related research on their effectiveness. The Tethys team is also piloting a new tool that will host environmental monitoring metadata from OSW developments around the world, with links to publicly accessible data. This presentation will provide an overview of all the resources available on Tethys, highlight products developed through SEER and WREN, and discuss new tools under development to facilitate the knowledge sharing needed to advance OSW in an environmentally responsible manner.
Learning Objectives:
Use the information and resources available on Tethys to learn about the environmental effects of offshore wind energy development around the world, guide research and development of monitoring and mitigation strategies, and streamline permitting processes by reducing scientific uncertainty and increasing stakeholder buy-in through transparency.
