UNC Coastal Wind Study, Data Distribution

Project Purpose:
At the request of the North Carolina General Assembly the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted a 9-month study to assess the feasibility of installing wind turbines in the sounds and off the coast of North Carolina. The request specified that the assessment include an analysis of the spatial distributions of available wind power, ecological risks and synergies, use conflicts affecting site selection, foundation systems and their compatibility with sound and ocean bottom geology and associated geologic dynamics, electric transmission infrastructure, utility statutory and regulatory barriers, the legal context, carbon reduction potential, and economics. Discrete work components were addressed by a project team that drew upon expertise within the University as well as consultants.  This distribution contains GIS data representing the efforts of this study.  

Website:
http://www.climate.unc.edu/coastal-wind

Project Contact:
Carolyn W. Elfland
Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
CWELFLAND@campus-services.unc.edu

Project GIS Coordinator:
Jesse A. Cleary
Department of Marine Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
jesse.cleary@gmail.com

Data Files:
* UNC_CoastalWind.mxd - an overview map containing paths to the following datasets.  Maintain the folder hierarchy within the data distribution zip file to ensure correct data sources with this MXD.  

GIS datasets created by the project and included in this distribution:
* UNCWind_bird_appreciable_conflict - areas of appreciable bird/bat conflict 
* UNCWind_bird_unacceptable_conflict - areas of unacceptable bird/bat conflict 
* UNCWind_foundation_suitability - geologic suitability for turbine foundation types
* UNCWind_marinelife_appreciable_conflict - areas of appreciable fish and fish habitat conflict 
* UNCWind_marinelife_no_conflict - areas of no fish and fish habitat conflict 
* UNCWind_marinelife_unacceptable_conflict - areas of unacceptable fish and fish habitat conflict 
* UNCWind_MMS_blocks_intersect_remain - MMS lease blocks remaining after all constraint layers were applied
* UNCWind_PamlicoFocusArea - areas of interest for further exploration in Pamlico Sound
* UNCWind_PamlicoPilotArea - area of interest for a UNC Pilot study
* UNCWind_shallow_waters - areas <4m in depth
* UNCWind_station_wind_summary - wind station data from in-situ met stations, buoys, and towers
* UNCWind_studyarea - UNC Coastal Wind study area
* UNCWind_wind_capacity - interpolated wind capacity percentage surface

GIS datasets collected for this project and included in this distribution:
* FedStateWaters - boundary between state and federal waters
* IntraCoastal_Waterway - IntraCoastal Waterway centerline
* IntraCoastal_Waterway_1km_buffer - 1km buffer around the ICW centerline
* MMS_blk_clp - MMS lease blocks
* NC_Ferry - NCDOT Ferry routes
* NC_Ferry_1km_Buffer - 1km buffer around NCDOT Ferry routes
* NCland - 1:5000 land data
* NCshoreline - 1:5000 shoreline data
* NearshoreBathymetry - nearshore isobaths (10m interval, -10m to -100m)
* ShippingRoutes - Shipping routes centerlines
* ShippingRoutes_1km_buffer - 1km buffer around shipping lanes