Underwater noise from on-land blasting (PDF)

Quijano, J.E. and M.W. Koessler

JASA Express Letters 5(11): 113601 (2025)

DOI: 10.1121/10.0039805

The production of underwater noise from on-land detonations is of concern, especially near sensitive marine mammal habitats. Despite this, there is a lack of public experimental data to analyze the characteristics of this type of noise. This paper quantifies noise from near-water land detonations, based on measurements obtained at Bentinck Island Demolition Range, Vancouver Island. The measurements show that ground-to-water propagation is dominant and that air-to-water coupling via evanescent waves is also present but mostly perceptible only at close distances from the detonation. A simple wavenumber integration model is used to illustrate the depth dependency of the evanescent field.