Abstract
Scientists are often tasked with addressing challenging, seemingly impossible questions. An example is the recent Consensus Study Report (NASEM, 2024a)—summarized by Hoffman et al. (2025, in this issue)—asking: “How will potential offshore wind-induced changes in ocean physical dynamics affect the North Atlantic right whale in the Nantucket Shoals region?” Most concerns about potential direct impacts of offshore wind farms (OSW) on the North Atlantic right whale (NARW) focus on noise interference and higher vessel activity increasing the risk of vessel strikes. The impact of OSW on ocean physics or hydrodynamics and subsequently NARWs is more difficult to gauge because the effects are indirect and likely highly variable. We do not yet know enough to accurately predict when and where zooplankton will aggregate at concentrations that support NARW foraging and success. Additionally, the underlying confounding challenge is how to decipher turbine-induced hydrodynamic changes relative to the background of extremely high spatiotemporal variability in oceanographic conditions and zooplankton dynamics in the Nantucket Shoals region. When posed as a modified question—“How will potential OSW-induced changes in ocean physical dynamics affect zooplankton in the Nantucket Shoals region?”—a variety of scenarios come to mind along with three questions that need to be addressed in order to move closer to understanding whether and how OSW may impact zooplankton.