Wave energy period is a sea state parameter, derived from the zeroth and first negative moments of the frequency spectrum. It is the period corresponding to the weighted average of the wave energy. Wave energy period values in this dataset are represented in seconds. The Wave Energy Resource Assessment project is a joint venture between NREL and Virginia Tech. NREL is the prime contractor and Virginia Tech is responsible for development of the models and estimating the wave resource. NREL also serves as an independent validator and also develops the final GIS-based display of the data. Data represent monthly summaries for the time period from January 1980 to December 2009 (30 years) for the following parameters: significant wave height (ssh), wave energy period (wep), and wave hindcast direction (dfp). For complete details regarding this study please read the full report, available here: https://openei.org/datasets/dataset/mapping-and-assessment-of-the-united-states-ocean-wave-energy-resource. A note about the data: Bathymetric effects are known to have a large effect on wave characteristics at depths shallower than approximately 20m (\~65 ft) on the Atlantic coast and 50 m (\~160 ft) on the Pacific coast. A variance between depths exists due to the feature differences for each continental shelf. The methodology used in this resource assessment precludes providing site-specific information to such developers. Reliable site-specific information in shallow waters can only be produced using results from models with higher spatial resolution that include shallow-water physics. The wave resource assessment group acknowledges that its results will not be accurate in the shallower waters of the inner continental shelf. These shallow water regions are located within the dark gray boundaries on the map.

Wave hindcast direction represents the direction of peak in directionally-resolved wave energy flux. Wave hindcast direction values in this dataset are represented in degrees. The Wave Energy Resource Assessment project is a joint venture between NREL and Virginia Tech. NREL is the prime contractor and Virginia Tech is responsible for development of the models and estimating the wave resource. NREL also serves as an independent validator and also develops the final GIS-based display of the data. Data represent monthly summaries for the time period from January 1980 to December 2009 (30 years) for the following parameters: significant wave height (ssh), wave energy period (wep), and wave hindcast direction (dfp). For complete details regarding this study please read the full report, available here: https://openei.org/datasets/dataset/mapping-and-assessment-of-the-united-states-ocean-wave-energy-resource. A note about the data: Bathymetric effects are known to have a large effect on wave characteristics at depths shallower than approximately 20m (\~65 ft) on the Atlantic coast and 50 m (\~160 ft) on the Pacific coast. A variance between depths exists due to the feature differences for each continental shelf. The methodology used in this resource assessment precludes providing site-specific information to such developers. Reliable site-specific information in shallow waters can only be produced using results from models with higher spatial resolution that include shallow-water physics. The wave resource assessment group acknowledges that its results will not be accurate in the shallower waters of the inner continental shelf. These shallow water regions are located within the dark gray boundaries on the map.

A compilation of ocean water quality (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen) data at ¼ degree spatial resolution for the entire United States Exclusive Economic Zone. The dataset is derived from the ESRI Ecological Marine Unit (EMU) dataset, which was assembled from non-supervised statistical clustering of over 52 million points from NOAA’s World Ocean Atlas (2013) WoA database, an authoritative 57 year archive of global water column data. This derived dataset is divided into three separate point shapefiles, each representing either temperature (degrees Celsius), salinity (practical salinity units), or dissolved oxygen (mg/L). Values represent a climatological average. Each shapefile is formatted such that a single point location (i.e., unique associated latitude and longitude) contains a unique column entry for a given depth interval. Depth intervals are variable from 5 m near the surface to 100 m in the deeper regions (> 2000 m) for a total of 102 depth levels. All disclaimers provided by the original dataset authors apply to this derived dataset. For detail on these disclaimers, please refer to the following reference: Sayre, R., J. Dangermond, D. Wright, S. Breyer, K. Butler, K. Van Graafeiland, M.J. Costello, P. Harris, K. Goodin, M. Kavanaugh, N. Cressie, J. Guinotte, Z. Basher, P. Halpin, M. Monaco, P. Aniello, C. Frye, D. Stephens, P. Valentine, J. Smith, R. Smith, D.P. VanSistine, J. Cress, H. Warner, C. Brown, J. Steffenson, D. Cribbs, B. Van Esch, D. Hopkins, G. Noll, S. Kopp, and C. Convis. 2017. A New Map of Global Ecological Marine Units – An Environmental Stratification Approach. Washington, DC: American Association of Geographers. 36 pages.

A deepwater port is a fixed or floating man-made structure, or a group of structures, other than a vessel, located beyond State seaward boundaries and used or intended for use as a port or terminal for the transportation, storage, and further handling of oil or natural gas for transportation to or from any State.

These data show the location of aquaculture operations within coastal and offshore waters of the United States. Aquaculture types may include aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants. Records were acquired from multiple sources, however source data was not available from all coastal states.

Nutrient data were obtained from the Bio-ORACLE project and represent a long-term composite of data from 2000 to 2014. The map layer represents mean nitrate concentration (micromoles per liter) in surface waters of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Additional data available for download here provide six nutrient concentrations at three different depths within the water column (surface, mean depth, and maximum depth). Data have a common spatial resolution of 5 arc minutes and were assessed using a cross‐validation framework against in situ quality‐controlled data.

This project conducted field research at six shoreline sites in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve in northeast Florida. At each of the six study sites, the project team installed experimental living shoreline treatments. Between November 2015 and June 2019, several physical and biological variables were routinely monitored to evaluate the performance of the living shoreline installations, including: (1) ecological response variables for the adjacent marsh (2) data about the oysters and invertebrates that colonized the new living shoreline structures, and (3) hydrodynamic measurements around the new structures.

These data represent operable electric generating plants within the vicinity of the U.S. coastline by energy source. This includes all plants that are operating, on standby, or short or long-term out of service with a combined nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or more. The presence of a facility may indicate that power transmission infrastructure exists nearby. The absence of a facility or lack of sufficient capacity at a facility in a given area may be an important characteristic in future energy planning activities.

Mean wave power density estimates represent naturally available US wave energy, derived from measurements observed during a 51-month study period. Measurements were taken from 42,000 grid points out to a distance of 50 nautical miles from shore. Values represent the average instantaneous power generated by a meter length of wave crest per grid point. In accordance with accepted global practice, wave power density is measured in kilowatts per meter of wave crest aggregated across a unit diameter circle. Data were classified using quantiles. Bathymetric effects are known to have a large effect on wave characteristics at depths shallower than ~20m on the east coast and ~50m on the west coast. Reliable site-specific information in shallow waters can only be produced using results from models with higher spatial resolution that include shallow-water physics. Results may not be accurate in the shallower waters of the inner continental shelf.