Gulf of Mexico Cable Prioritization Modelling

This is the GitHub repository that details the cable site prioritization for the Gulf of Mexico offshore wind energy areas.

Repository Structure

• data
  • raw_data: the raw data integrated in the analysis (Note: original data name and structure were kept except when either name was not descriptive or similar data were put in same directory to simplify input directories)
  • intermediate_data: disaggregated processed data
  • analysis_data: processed data for analyzing
  • raster_data: raster data
  • final_data:
• code: scripts for cleaning, processing, and analyzing data
• figures: figures generated to visualize analysis
• methodology: detailed methods for the data and analysis

The full data repository is accessible on Google Drive.

Note for PC users: The code was written on a Mac so to run the scripts replace "/" in the pathnames for directories with two "\".

Please contact Brian Free ([email protected]) with any questions.

Data sources

Generic Data

Layer	Data Source	Data Name	Metadata
Wind Areas	BOEM	Renewable Energy Leases and Planning Areas	Metadata, Renewable Energy GIS Data
County	Texas Department of Transport	Texas County Boundaries -- Detailed	Summary details

Constraints Data

Layer	Data Source	Data Name	Metadata
Landmasses	United States Geological Survey	Global Islands	Global Island Explorer
Seagrass	NOAA	Seagrasses	Seagrass
Seagrass	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Seagrass (2012)
Seagrass	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Christmas Bay / West Bay (2015)
Seagrass	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	NOAA (2012)
Seagrass	NOAA NCEI	Gulfwide Subaquatic Vegetation
Oyster	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Copano Bay
Oyster	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Espiritu Santo
Oyster	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Galveston Bay
Oyster	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Lavaca Tres Palacios
Oyster	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	West Galveston Bay
Oyster	Texas Park and Wildlife Department	Oyster restoration sites
Oyster	United States Geological Survey	Oysters 2011 - Gulf of Mexico, Oysters 2011 - Texas only	Texas metadata and Gulf of Mexico metadata
Oyster	Unknown	Lavaca Oysters Harper (2002)
Oyster	Unknown	Oyster Reefs NOAA (2007)
Oyster	Unknown	Powell (1995)	Appear to be data from the Texas GLO Coastal Research Map viewer
Oyster	Unknown	Oyster Lease Areas (2018)	Appear to be data from the Texas HHS Shellfish ArcMap page
Oyster	Unknown	Oyster Lease (Texas)
Shipping Lanes	NOAA	Shipping Lanes
Shipping Lanes	Texas Railroad Commission	Shipping Channels	User Guide
Conservation Areas	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department	Texas Wildlife Management Areas
Conservation Areas	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department	Texas State Parks
Conservation Areas	United States Fish and Wildlife	National Realty Boundaries	About
Conservation Areas	NOAA	Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary	Sanctuaries GIS data, metadata, Flower Garden Banks website, Flower Garden Banks map viewer
Lightering Zones	NOAA	Lightering Zones	Metadata and additional information
Aritificial Reefs	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department	Artificial Reefs
Fish Haven (Obstruction)	NOAA	Obstruction Areas	ENC Direct
Unexploded Ordnance	NOAA	Unexploded Ordnance Areas	Metadata
Unexploded Ordnance	NOAA	Unexploded Ordnance Locations	Metadata
Oil and Gas Leases	BOEM	Active Blocks	Metadata
Sediment	BOEM	Significiant Sediment Blocks	Metadata
Wells and Boreholes	BOEM / BSEE	Oil and Gas Boreholes	Field definitions and Field values
No Activity Zones	BOEM	No Activity Zones	Map package information
Anchorage Areas	NOAA	Anchorage Areas	Metadata
Drilling Platforms	BOEM / BSEE	Oil and Gas Drilling Platforms	Metadata
Submarine Cables	NOAA	Submarine Cable Areas	Metadata
Submarine Cables	NOAA	NOAA Charted Submarine Cables	Metadata
Submarine Cables	Confidential	Geocables
Aids to Navigation	NOAA	Aids to Navigation	Metadata
Environmental Sensors	NDBC	Observations by Program	Site page, Observation Locations
Environmental Sensors	GCOOS	Federal Assets	Site page
Environmental Sensors	GCOOS	Regional Assets	Site page
Environmental Sensors	IOOS	2020 - 2021 Raw Assets	Metadata and background information
Pipelines	BOEM	Pipelines	Metadata and field definitions

Suitability Data

Layer	Data Source	Data Name	Metadata
Bathymetry	NOAA NCEI	Western Gulf of Mexico Coastal Relief Model	Coastal Relief Model, Bathymetry Map Viewer, Alternative Download Link
Shipping Traffic	NOAA	Vessel Transit Count	Metadata
Shipping Traffic	NOAA	Vessel Track	Metadata and ArcGIS Pro Tool / ArcGIS Pro Tool Download
Special Use Airspace	Federal Aviation Administration	Special Use Airspace	Full details
Coral Habitats Area of Particular Concern	NOAA	Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern	Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Viewer
Coral Habitats Area of Particular Concern	NOAA	Coral Amendment 9 Habitat Areas of Particular Concern	Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Viewer and Amendment 9
Offshore Wind Energy Net Value	NREL	Economic Potential of Offshore Wind	Data page, report
Lease Blocks	BOEM	Lease Blocks	Metadata

Known limitations and issues

Currently R cannot open raster files from a geodatabase. Thus, the vessel traffic count data had to be opened in Esri software and then use the study area to mask the count data within that area.

Similarly, the KML data from NDBC, as of October 27 2022, can only be downloaded as a KML file. To open the data, available through the public link on the website, within R, convert them to a shapefile (or usable format) in Esri software. Alternatively, use this link to download the KML data with the spatial data--it contains 9 separate layers.

A specialized tool designed for ArcGIS Pro is required to convert the AIS track data into comparable transit count data. As denoted on the tool page, a user will require ArcGIS Pro 1.2.x+ with the spatial analyst license. Make sure the vessel data are as a point type and have fields for date-time and an unique identifier.

The seagrass and oyster datasets in the analysis and intermediate geopackages will not open in ESRI software. To view and work with those data, open them in QGIS and then export as separate shapefiles.

Assumptions

Any layers that were comprised of many datasets took the perspective to minimize the likelihood of placing a cable where it should not be then all areas of those datasets were correct and held equal weight. For instance, despite the range in geographic scope and temporal and spatial resolutions, all the seagrass datasets were held to be equally acceptable.

Regarding oil and gas drilling platforms, ones with an installation date and has a removal date were the only ones included, as it was assumed that a platform would not exist if there was no installation date or it had a removal date. It is more likely that a platform would exist even if it had a removal date than one existing if it lacked an installation date.

Only submarine cable areas with an operational status were included for analysis. No area in the study did receive any of the other main status designations: "Inactive", "Abandoned", "Proposed". All areas with NA values for the status designation were excluded due to lack of information to help verify their importance. One feature detailed a prohibition of dragging; this area too was excluded since no other context was provided and the offshore wind cable would not meet that prohibition criteria.

GCOOS listed assets were limited to only active sensors even though it is unclear if assets with an inactive status could be active in the future.

For any entries that did not have a feature type designated as potentially sensitive biological features or similar were excluded from analysis; this could have resulted in an under count, for features that are potentially sensitive biological feature could have been misclassified or unclassified.