Public Reports & Articles
Underwater Radiated Noise Rating of Ships
February 2025 — Canada
Client: Transport Canada
This technical memo presents a method for rating ships according to measurements of their underwater radiated noise (URN). The overall goal is to assign URN grades to ships. The rating method is intended to be applied by agencies and organizations responsible for managing underwater ship noise. Noise criteria are defined for four URN grades (A to D), and methods for accurately measuring ship radiated noise levels and evaluating measurements against grading criteria are provided here. The grade limits and measurement methods can also be useful for ship classification societies for defining their own quiet ship notations.
The recommendations are based on research on ship underwater noise characterization projects that has been supported by Transport Canada and the Port of Vancouver’s Enhancing Cetacean and Habitat Observation (ECHO) Program, and from research performed by many organizations worldwide to develop international standards for ship noise measurement.
Regional 2022 Ocean Noise Contributors in Southern Resident Killer Whale Habitat
November 2024 — Canada
Client: Transport Canada
This study uses an advanced soundscape model to investigate how different marine sectors contributed to underwater noise in Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) habitat during 2022. Key outputs of the model are maps of sound pressure level (SPL) generated by various vessel types and wind-driven ambient noise for the Salish Sea and Swiftsure Bank. Key inputs to the model include ship tracking data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and an extensive database of high-quality measurements of vessel underwater radiated noise. Soundscape maps are broken down into 15 vessel categories and 9 geographic sub-regions to calculate the contributions of different marine transportation sectors to the underwater sound energy budget. The soundscape model is also used to calculate natural ambient noise originating from wind and rain. The difference between ship-generated SPL and natural ambient SPL is used to assess how shipping activity contributes to acoustic masking within sensitive habitat areas.
SATURN Deliverable D2.2: Guidelines for Sound Particle Motion Mapping
July 2024 — Canada
Client: European Commission
Models for mapping sound pressure metrics over the environment in which animals are exposed to underwater radiated noise from ships have been developed in previous projects and applied in European ambient sound monitoring projects such as BIAS, JOMOPANS and JONAS. However, these maps represent metrics based on sound pressure within set frequency ranges. The capability to produce maps of metrics based on sound particle motion, to which many fish and invertebrate species are sensitive, still needed to be developed. This deliverable from Task 2.3 ‘Sound Particle Motion Modelling and Mapping’ of the EU-funded research project SATURN (Developing solutions to underwater radiated noise) describes the results of the development of the capability to produce sound particle motion maps. It describes the relevant sound particle motion metrics and how these relate, describes models that can be used for producing sound particle motion maps, describes how these models can be verified and validated and provides some examples of calculated particle motion sound maps. The final chapter of this report summarizes guidelines for sound particle motion mapping.
SATURN Deliverable 2.3: SATURN Acoustical Terminology Standard
June 2024 — Canada
Client: European Commission
This document is produced by Work Package 2 (WP2) ‘Standardisation’. The purposes of WP2 are to develop and validate standardised methods to cost-effectively measure underwater radiated noise (URN) and to facilitate the assessment of impacts from underwater noise generated by shipping and boats. These purposes are achieved by harmonising terminology, metrics, and methodology for measurements and modelling, including particle motion.