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Metadata: 2013, National Physical Laboratory, Sheringham Shoal, Measurement of Underwater Noise
Abstract:
In response to FEPA Licence (33369/10/3, Supplementary Condition 9.36) for the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm (OWF), underwater noise measurements were undertaken to assess underwater noise from the operational wind farm at ‘various frequencies across the sound spectrum, at a selection of locations immediately adjacent to and between turbines and within and outside the array at varying distances’. The underwater acoustic measurements performed at the operational Sheringham Shoal OWF, show that the radiated underwater sound from the particular wind turbines employed (Siemens SWT-3.6-107) is predominantly made up of tonal frequency components below around 500 Hz, resulting from the rotating nature of the turbine and its sub-components. Measurements were obtained in close proximity to individual wind turbines (~40 to 50m) for their full range of operating conditions, with snap-shot measurements at various positions between wind turbines and at a number of ranges away from the wind farm (ranging from about 50 m to 31 km), at all four compass points. The noise radiated from the operational wind turbines was typically comparable to or below the background noise level, and it was only certain frequency components that could be attributed to the operational wind turbines. The measured levels at the Sheringham Shoal OWF are comparable to those reported previously in the literature, where the same literature suggests that the underwater noise resulting from operational wind turbines would not be expected to result in injury to marine mammals and fish. The resultant noise levels in proximity to the turbines are also substantially lower than those expected to result in the onset of a permanent threshold shift in hearing response (PTS), or even a temporary threshold shift in hearing response (TTS), in marine mammals (Southall et al., 2007). It is also unlikely that these noise levels would result in a behavioural response, except perhaps in very close proximity to the turbines and only for species which might be sensitive to the tonal frequencies radiated.
Data holder:
The Crown Estate
| Other details | ||
| Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 19147 |
| Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | 2013, National Physical Laboratory, Sheringham Shoal, Measurement of Underwater Noise |
| Alternative title | The purpose of alternative title is to record any additional names by which the dataset may be known. | Measurement of Underwater Noise |
| File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | 55ab8ae8-2e7f-4da2-a160-92a88dd86d75 |
| Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | TCE-1985 |
| Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | series |
| Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2013-04-17 |
| End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2013-05-05 |
| Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | notPlanned |
| Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | In response to FEPA Licence (33369/10/3, Supplementary Condition 9.36) for the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm (OWF), underwater noise measurements were undertaken to assess underwater noise from the operational wind farm at ‘various frequencies across the sound spectrum, at a selection of locations immediately adjacent to and between turbines and within and outside the array at varying distances’. The underwater acoustic measurements performed at the operational Sheringham Shoal OWF, show that the radiated underwater sound from the particular wind turbines employed (Siemens SWT-3.6-107) is predominantly made up of tonal frequency components below around 500 Hz, resulting from the rotating nature of the turbine and its sub-components. Measurements were obtained in close proximity to individual wind turbines (~40 to 50m) for their full range of operating conditions, with snap-shot measurements at various positions between wind turbines and at a number of ranges away from the wind farm (ranging from about 50 m to 31 km), at all four compass points. The noise radiated from the operational wind turbines was typically comparable to or below the background noise level, and it was only certain frequency components that could be attributed to the operational wind turbines. The measured levels at the Sheringham Shoal OWF are comparable to those reported previously in the literature, where the same literature suggests that the underwater noise resulting from operational wind turbines would not be expected to result in injury to marine mammals and fish. The resultant noise levels in proximity to the turbines are also substantially lower than those expected to result in the onset of a permanent threshold shift in hearing response (PTS), or even a temporary threshold shift in hearing response (TTS), in marine mammals (Southall et al., 2007). It is also unlikely that these noise levels would result in a behavioural response, except perhaps in very close proximity to the turbines and only for species which might be sensitive to the tonal frequencies radiated. |
| Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | To meet the requirements of the licence condition, underwater acoustic measurements were performed at a number of locations within and outside the wind farm site including measurements adjacent to and between wind turbines, measurements within the wind farm site and measurements along transects away from the wind farm. This was achieved using a combination of mobile survey vessel (the Vidar) measurements and autonomous recorders: a) Mobile survey vessel measurements were used to characterise underwater sound at various ranges and positions along transects radiating away from individual wind turbines (A1, A5 and K3), and from the wind farm site. The specific wind turbines measured were chosen based on the geology, penetration depth and water depth at the turbines, and the transects were chosen to capture variation in bathymetry in the area surrounding the wind farm. In addition to these survey vessel based transect measurements, underwater sound was also measured at a number of pseudo-random locations, between adjacent turbines within the wind farm site and also on the array boundary, to capture variability across the wind farm site. b) Autonomous recorders were used to characterise the sound radiated by two individual wind turbines under a range of environmental conditions (wind, sea state, tidal variations) over a period of 21 days (sufficient to capture the full operating range of the wind turbines). The autonomous recorders were moored around 4 m above the sea floor, about 50 m from turbines A1 and A5. These two deployment locations were chosen based on the variations in bathymetry and geology at the wind farm site. Consideration was also given to local shipping patterns (DECC, 2013) and wind farm operational requirements. |
| Related keywords | ||
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Acoustic noise in the water column |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Sound velocity and travel time in the water column | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Post-Construction monitoring | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Renewable Energy Lease area | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Energy resources | |
| Geographical coverage | ||
| North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 53.182847 |
| East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 1.231625 |
| South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 52.948708 |
| West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 0.828491 |
| Responsible organisations | ||
| Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | National Physical Laboratory (NPL) | |
| pete.theobald@npl.co.uk | ||
| Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
| Organisation name | The Crown Estate | |
| Phone | +44 020 7851 5000 | |
| enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk | ||
| Role | The owner is the person or organisation that owns the resource. | owner |
| Organisation name | Scira Offshore Energy Ltd | |
| Individual name | wuinor | |
| gm_SciraInfo@equinor.com | ||
| Resource locators | ||
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/details/TCE-1985/summary |
| Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk | |
| Dataset constraints | ||
| 20.1 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 20.2 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | There will be no limitations when published on the Marine Data Exchange | |
| 21.1 Conditions for Access and Use - Use constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 21.2 Conditions for Access and Use - Other constraints | This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | Data Must be used in accordance to the Marine Data Exchange's Terms of Use: https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/content/info/terms-of-use |
| Version info | ||
| Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2021-05-17 |
| Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2026-04-19 |
| Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2026-03-27 |
| Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN |
| Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | 3.1.2 |