Map of Gulf of Mexico showing shipping lanes and Wind Energy Areas.

We’ve recently added several staff to bolster the offshore wind team at NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. With this full team of 13, our employee owners are able to provide more focused support in their areas of expertise, including mapping and spatial modeling, data collection, communications, project management, and partner engagement. Through this work, the team develops regional ecosystem-wide spatial models to inform siting of ocean use sectors, environmental review, and permitting, which provides guidance to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on suitable locations for offshore wind siting.

Sustainable coastal planning and development increases resiliency, creates jobs, reduces reliance on unsustainable imports, supports renewable energy, and grows the domestic Blue Economy. Check out the NCCOS Coastal & Marine Planning and Offshore Wind Energy spatial planning webpages to learn more.

This team is now providing spatial planning support in all U.S. ocean regions and was recently instrumental in BOEM designating two Wind Energy Areas in the Gulf of Mexico. As offshore wind continues to expand throughout U.S. waters, this team will continue to collaborate with BOEM to support the identification of suitable locations for renewable energy. Future work is slated for the U.S. Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Oregon, and more to come!

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split pane with 1-meter land cover data on left showing details of roads, buildings, creeks, and wetlands. 30-meter land cover data on right showing blocky colors that don't provide details.

New Heavily Desired High Resolution Land Cover Data for the U.S. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced the launch of the long desired high-resolution coastal land cover data. This highly anticipated data are available for most coastal areas of the U.S., including Alaska and the U.S. territories.    CSS employee owners contributed to the release of this data set by participating in production activities and…

Happy 50th Birthday, Coastal Zone Management Act!

The Coastal Zone Management Act turns 50 this year! Many of our National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contract teams support this important piece of legislation. We have staff on the ground in many geographies working with state and U.S. territorial coastal programs. These staff work closely with these programs to provide guidance and support…

Custom Support to Space Florida

Our team recently reconfigured the office space and network for an incoming Space Life Science Lab tenant, Vaxxinity. This work included major renovations to the lab and office space, and new cable runs for their modified space. The team completed this large task within a four week period! Our Florida IT group works closely with…