Noise Modelling for SONAR Sources in the North Sea

Offshore energy companies routinely conduct underwater acoustic activities in the Danish North Sea, often using equipment such as multi-beam echosounders, sub-bottom profilers, and side-scan SONAR accompanied by ultra-short baseline acoustic positioning systems. Our team was hired to perform acoustic modelling and assess the potential impacts that various acoustic survey equipment may have on marine mammals and fish.

Examples for each type of acoustic survey equipment were characterized with a spectrum and beam pattern and were modelled as a stationary or moving source in order to predict the sound fields resulting from different use-cases. Predicted sound levels were compared to regulatory thresholds to assess the extent of noise impacts for various marine mammal hearing groups and fish.