Public Reports & Articles
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.
NAVISON Final Report: Calculation and Analysis of Shipping Sound Maps for All European Seas From 2016 to 2050
October 2024 — Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Northeast Atlantic Ocean, North Sea
Client: European Maritime Safety Agency
October 2024 — Baltic Sea, Black, Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Northeast Atlantic Ocean
Client: European Maritime Safety Agency
The NAVIs SONus (NAVISON) report is the first pan-European report to provide historical and future forecast underwater noise data for all European seas. Underwater noise from ships is recognised as a stress factor for marine life, particularly for cetaceans like whales and dolphins, who use sound to communicate with each other. It can harm marine biodiversity and cause behavioural changes in animals. Using a single methodology, NAVISON maps underwater noise levels in all European seas for the first time, providing a comprehensive, pan-European overview, and allowing quantitative like-for-like comparisons of shipping contributions to ambient sound between regions, vessel categories, years, and forecast scenarios.
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.