The U.S. Offshore Wind Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research (SEER) project is a multi-year collaborative effort designed to facilitate knowledge transfer for offshore wind environmental research around the world. Through significant stakeholder outreach and engagement efforts, the SEER team identified a set of research topics pertinent to offshore wind development on the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. The SEER team is now developing a corresponding set of educational research briefs that synthesize key issues, identify existing knowledge gaps, and prioritize future research needs (see below for more information).
As part of this effort, the SEER team will be hosting a series of free, public webinars that will present findings from the briefs and feature panel discussions with subject matter experts, followed by question-and-answer periods. The SEER team will be hosting the third of four webinars from 8:00-9:30 AM PST (4:00-5:30 PM UTC) on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.
The third webinar will cover topics related to: Bat and Bird Interactions with Offshore Wind Energy. During the webinar, Dr. Cris Hein (NREL) will summarize how birds and bats interact with wind turbines and how that relates to potential collision events and behavioral responses, including avoidance. He will also review how technologies (e.g., radar, thermal cameras) used to study the behavior of birds and bats may help refine monitoring and minimization strategies. Dr. Pamela Loring (US Fish and Wildlife Service), Kate Williams (Biodiversity Research Institute), Dr. Trevor Peterson (Stantec), and Robin Brabant (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) will participate in the event as subject matter experts during the panel discussion.
Register for the webinar here.