Workpackage 5: Environmental and Ecological Impacts
Summary
Leaders: Professor Jonathan Side (ICIT/HWU) and Professor Stuart Gibb (ERI/UHI Millenium Institute)
In addition to the named investigators HWU staff collaborating and contributing to this workpackage include Dr Karl Stephen, Dr Melissa Bowen and Dr Rob Harris; as well as Dr David Woolfe (ERI/UHI MIllenium Institute)
Overall Goal: To determine the likely environmental impacts from marine energy convertors and propose mitigative measures, and methods of measurement/monitoring, for these.
Introduction: Initial SRDG funding of £1m has enabled the development of collaboration between ICIT/HWU and ERI/UHI in a study that will focus on developing an understanding of impacts on, and building research capacity in:
- coastal physical processes (led by Dr Rob Harris)
- hydrodynamics and water column processes (led by Dr David Woolfe)
- pelagic and benthic dynamics (led by Professor Stuart Gibb)
- ecosystem considerations and consequences (led by Professor Jonathan Side)
Further linked studies include the Total (Fondation and E&P Aberdeen) funded research on passive remote monitoring of diving birds and the Supergen Plus project (jointly with Queens University Belfast) to determine the “what, why and how” for environmental monitoring purposes. Ongoing work in this area includes the 2 PhD studentships in the SEAMEX programme (funded by HIE and EPSRC Supergen Marine). Full details of all of these studies are available on request.
Resourcing Estimate
Allowance for investigator time and for PhD studentships for Strand 3.