Seismic North-East: Efficiency and quality improvement for the subsoil investigation for offshore wind farms on the basis of optimized seismic measurement methods

Seismic measurements play an important role in the surveying for offshore wind farms. In reality, the possibilities afforded by this method are often not fully exhausted. One important reason for this is that there is a broad spectrum of different methods, but no systematic comparison. This information deficit means that, in practice, the most suitable methods are frequently not used. The result is that there is insufficient knowledge available concerning the subsoil conditions at the site and therefore complex follow-up investigations may become necessary. This costs both time as well as money, and an increased site subsoil risk must also be expected.

The Seismic North-East project has set itself the objective of remedying this information deficit by systematically comparing the various measurement systems available with each other. To this end, the methods will be investigated in respect of their parameter resolution, signal penetration, reproduction quality, data processing complexity and costs, among other things. The impact of different geological conditions on the reproduction quality will also be taken into account.

At the end of the project there will be a publicly available guide, which is intended to provide those in the market with a scientific basis on which to make a decision about the most suitable method in each case. The most important anticipated effects for the planning, construction and operation of offshore wind farms are savings in time and cost as well as a lower subsoil risk at the site.