1. Why is Tethys so important for marine and wind energy?
Tethys allows users to search for and access valuable information related to the environmental effects of land-based wind energy, offshore wind energy, and marine energy (e.g., wave, tidal). Marine energy is a relatively new source of energy, so there is still a lack of information and understanding on how to best proceed in developing these technologies in an environmentally responsible manner. Wind energy is fairly well established, but researchers are continually improving on methods of prevention, detection, and assessment. The goal of Tethys is to gather all the relevant information and data on these renewables with the intent to expedite technological development and attempt to clarify the associated uncertainties.
2. Where do I find the Tethys content?
The best place to get started is the Tethys Knowledge Base, which hosts thousands of documents that can be searched, sorted, and filtered. Another way to view content is with the Map Viewer, which shows geotagged content on a map. Finally, you can always perform a keyword search in the upper right.
3. Where does Tethys content come from?
Tethys content is constantly growing, actively curated by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Documents are collected by subscribing for journal alerts, networking with professionals, scanning other related databases, mining citations in key reports, and by receiving suggestions from the Tethys community. Learn how to contribute here.
4. How do I know the material on Tethys is accurate or complete?
Significant effort is placed on ensuring that new content is captured in the database, that documents are tagged correctly, that links function properly, and that any content that may become outdated specifies when the information was collected (regulatory information, metadata forms). However, your help in identifying errors is greatly appreciated - please contact us if you have any corrections or suggestions.
5. How can I contribute content to Tethys?
If you have documents, data, webinars, or other information which you think belongs on Tethys, let us know!
6. Why should I register on Tethys? Can't I already access all the content?
While all content is available on the Knowledge Base, registration on Tethys provides access to a number of personalization and interaction features (learn how to register here). Currently, registered users can:
- Access contact information for members of the Tethys community and be personally included in these contact lists
- Save preferences for entry on the Knowledge Base and Map Viewer
- Associate your account with an author profile so that your information appears along your list of documents
7. If I register, what happens to my personal information?
All personal information collected during registration is used solely for administrative purposes. Your information will not be shared with any third parties.
8. How can I change personal information on my user account?
Simply visit your account page to update your registration information, typically accessed in the upper right of the screen after logging in.
9. What are OES-Environmental and WREN, and how are they related to Tethys?
OES-Environmental (the task formerly known as Annex IV) is an international collaboration amongst member nations of the IEA Ocean Energy Systems to gather information on environmental research related to marine energy. WREN is a separate international collaboration amongst member nations of the IEA Wind to address environmental issues associated with commercial development of land-based and offshore wind energy projects. Tethys is supporting both initiatives by facilitating various outreach activities and events. Tethys also helps OES-Environmental and WREN host marine energy and offshore wind energy project metadata and disseminate this information to a broad international audience.
10. How frequently are Marine Energy Metadata and Offshore Wind Metadata updated?
Project sites and research studies are frequently changing, so we do our best to keep information up to date. One year after the most recent form submission, we try to make contact with the developer/researcher to receive updates with a goal that no metadata forms are more than 18 months old. Each Tethys page will indicate when the form was last updated, shown in the upper right.
11. Why does the Map Viewer have less content than the Knowledge Base?
The Map Viewer only has geotagged content available while the Knowledge Base contains all content on Tethys. All OES-Environmental Project Sites and Offshore Wind Metadata projects are geotagged; some documents and OES-Environmental Research Studies are geotagged, as long as the content references a specific location.
12. What is a stressor and receptor?
Many Tethys materials discuss environmental effects in terms of stressors and receptors. Stressors are the parts of a device or a result of a device's functioning that may cause harm or stress to a marine animal, habitat, or ecosystem process. Receptors are the marine animals, habitats, and ecosystems processes that may be affected by stressors. For example, noise (the stressor) from a tidal turbine may affect a marine mammal (the receptor) by limiting its ability to communicate with others and navigate its environment. If you are confused about any terminology on Tethys, please visit the Glossary.
13. Are there other sites similar to Tethys that you could direct me to?
When it comes to environmental effects information and data on marine or wind energy, Tethys really is one of a kind. However, we have compiled a list of other significant databases with relevance, found here.
14. Are the documents on Tethys all peer-reviewed?
No, Tethys contains a combination of both peer-reviewed and grey literature. Documents can always be sorted by content type, which gives some indication of peer-reviewed status (e.g., journal articles are often peer-reviewed while reports are often not formally peer-reviewed). However, many reports have undergone extensive reviews and are very reliable sources. Those using Tethys should always be aware of the document source and use discretion as to the quality of the information.
15. How do you keyword search on Tethys?
Many of the tables and tools on Tethys have search bars that will narrow results, typically requiring that all keywords entered match the title, abstract, or authors. Because the search only returns when all keywords are found, it is recommended that you limit keyword searches to a few words. Keyword searches can be used in conjunction with filters.
In addition to the search functionality described above, the Knowledge Base, Map Viewer, and site-wide search have special search functionality to accomplish more advanced searches. You may begin a search with "org:" to return results from a specific organization (see example for Marine Scotland Science). Likewise, beginning a search with "author:" with return results from a specific author (see example for Copping). Lastly, you may wrap a specific phrase in quotes to search for exact matches (see with and without quotes). The Knowledge Base sort depends on which column header is selected, while the site-wide search is sorted by relevance where matches in the title are prioritized.
The following targeted searches are available:
- org: author affiliation or sponsoring organization
- author: targets any authors
- journal: targets a specific journal article
- publisher: targets a specific publisher
- location: country or U.S. state where the research was conducted
This example shows a complex search involving a phrase, keyword, and targeted author search.
16. I can’t find what I’m looking for and/or have questions that are not answered here. Can you help?
If you are having trouble finding what you are looking for, please feel free to contact us.