Ecowende has begun publishing ecological monitoring data from its Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, making measurements from the marine environment available to researchers and other users through HUB Ocean’s Ocean Data Platform.
The first datasets cover underwater physical and chemical conditions recorded at the wind farm. They include continuous measurements from multi-parameter probes (MPPs) installed on passive acoustic monitoring frames, together with vertical profiles collected during visits to the site.
Two monitoring frames, located in the northern and southern parts of the wind farm, carry MPPs that measure dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, pH, water temperature, turbidity and salinity close to the seabed. The passive acoustic monitoring equipment has been collecting continuous measurements since August 2024, including data used to monitor harbour porpoise presence and underwater acoustic conditions.
The MPPs provide continuous measurements at fixed locations, while the vertical profiles record conditions from the surface to the seabed. Together, the datasets provide information on both changes over time at specific locations and variations through the water column.
Ecowende, the consortium developing Hollandse Kust West, said the data-sharing programme is intended to help address gaps in knowledge about how offshore wind farms interact with marine ecosystems.
The datasets are being published through HUB Ocean according to FAIR principles — making data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. This allows researchers to combine the measurements with other ocean datasets and conduct analyses beyond the original monitoring objectives.
Additional datasets are expected to be released as Ecowende’s monitoring programme continues, covering further environmental parameters, species and ecological processes.
The approach provides a longer-term record of marine conditions at an operating offshore wind site. Such datasets can be used to establish environmental baselines, examine changes during different stages of a wind farm’s operation and support comparisons between projects.
For offshore wind developers and researchers, access to standardised environmental measurements could also help inform future monitoring programmes and the design and operation of projects where marine ecological impacts are a key consideration.
