e477c903-39b5-4054-88cf-0e70b2cf980d English series series 2026-07-15T10:59:16 MEDIN 3.1.2 biota oceans Acoustic noise in the water column SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2026-06-19 revision Cetacean behaviour SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2026-06-19 revision Research The Crown Estate Renewable Energy Development Phases 2012-05-15 revision Research and Development Activity The Crown Estate Renewable Energy Development Areas 2012-05-15 revision Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2009-07-31 revision SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2020-05-21 revision water column 2007-07-01T00:00:00 2007-07-01T00:00:00 -9.33312855790775 2.68743327033997 49.0399981037863 60.7672028638749 TCE-257 Marine Data Exchange 2007, SMRU Ltd, COWRIE Research, Assessment of the potential acoustic deterrents to mitigate the impact on marine mammals of underwater noise arising from the construction of OWFS Assessment of the potential acoustic deterrents to mitigate the impact on marine mammals of underwater noise arising from the construction of Offshore Wind Farms rn 2007-01-01T00:00:00 creation 2021-05-17T13:33:51 publication English During the construction of an offshore wind farm there are large amounts of noise generated, especially during the pile driving activity. This large amount of noise may cause harmful damage to marine mammals in the near vicinity. This study examines the potential to create deterrent noise to move marine mammals away from the source of the damaging noise to prevent any injury. Origin: SMRU Ltd There will be no limitations when published on the Marine Data Exchange otherRestrictions 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 otherRestrictions The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk custodian JR Nedwell, SJ Parvin, B Edwards, R Workman, AG Brooker, JE Kynoch SMRU Limited +44 (0) 1334 479 100 info@smru.co.uk originator The Crown Estate +44 020 7851 5000 enquiries@thecrownestate.co.uk distributor COWRIE cowrie@offshorewind.co.uk owner notPlanned Documents https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk/details/TCE-257/summary A link to the web service or dataset. https://www.marinedataexchange.co.uk A link to the general host site. Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08T00:00:00 publication Conformity with the Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 was either not relevant to this dataset or not a requirement of the Marine Data Exchange for the creation and submission of this dataset; therefore, conformity has not been assessed and cannot be declared False series A number of anthropogenic activities that occur in coastal and offshore waters generate sound or impulses at levels which are sufficiently high to pose a risk of causing physical damage or hearing impairment in sensitive wildlife such as marine mammals. The use of explosives, for example, for well-head removal, certainly poses this risk and it is possible that pile driving during windfarm construction could also do so. One potential means of reducing the risk of damage to marine mammals from such activities is to move sensitive animals out of the high risk area by using aversive or alarming sounds produced by an acoustic mitigation device (AMD). This report investigates the potential for using AMDs for mitigation during windfarm construction, explores the types of acoustic signals that might be suitable for this application, and the devices available for producing them in the field. It makes recommendations in relation to the areas of research that would be needed to develop and quantify the performance of a working system, and reviews legal aspects of using AMDs for mitigation in UK waters. In the absence of clear criteria from regulators in the UK or Europe for unacceptable exposure, we have worked to two acoustic exposure thresholds proposed by NOAA in the USA. These are that received levels for a single pulse should not exceed 180 dB re 1HPa for cetaceans and 190dB for seals, and the cumulative exposure should not exceed 195 dB re 1HPa2s. A cumulative exposure model which accounts for animal movements and propagation conditions as well as source levels and duty cycles of piling activities and AMDs was used to explore the ranges to which animals would need to be moved to minimise the risk that these thresholds for acceptable noise exposure would be exceeded. Ranges varied widely between different likely scenarios. In part this reflects sensitivity to factors such as propagation conditions which vary between sites and with conditions, but which could be measured and more tightly defined in the model. However it is also the consequence of some fundamental unknowns, such as the behaviour of animals when exposed to aversive sounds and piling. The results from this modelling exercise should not be used to make firm predictions, but they do indicate that, whilst the risk of hearing damage to marine mammals from piling activities cannot be discounted, it could be greatly reduced if animals were induced to move out of the area before piling started. In typical conditions animals would need to be moved over ranges of hundreds or low thousands of metres to achieve this, and this sets indicative performance criteria for an effective AMD SMRU Ltd Project Manager 02380711840 jeremy.nedwell@subacoustech.com pointOfContact EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2022-11-29 revision WGS 84