2020 State of the Science Report, Chapter 7: Changes in Oceanographic Systems Associated with Marine Renewable Energy Devices

Technical Report · Wed Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1633183· OSTI ID:1633183

Whiting, Jonathan M. ^[1]; Chang, Grace ^[2]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
2. Integral Consulting, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States)

Oceanographic processes define the marine environment: the flow of water determines the concentrations of dissolved gases and nutrients, transports sediments, and maintains the habitats and water quality that support marine organisms and healthy ecosystems. Important physical processes in the ocean include, but are not limited to, tidal circulation and basin flushing, wave action, local and basin-scale ocean currents, temperature and salinity gradients, sediment transport forming and shaping coastlines, and the exchange of heat and dissolved gases at the air-water interface. Harnessing energy with marine renewable energy (MRE) devices has the potential to affect these processes in both the nearfield (within a few device lengths) and the farfield (farther from the device, from the scale of multiple devices to the scale of an enclosed basin) by removing energy from the system, changing natural flow patterns around devices, and/or decreasing wave heights. https://tethys.pnnl.gov/publications/state-of-the-science-2020-chapter-7-oceanographic-systems

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1633183
• Report Number(s): PNNL--29976CHPT7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES