2020 State of the Science Report, Chapter 4: Risk to Marine Animals from Underwater Noise Generated by Marine Renewable Energy Devices

Technical Report · Wed Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1633082· OSTI ID:1633082

Polagye, Brian ^[1]; Bassett, Christopher ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

In all ocean environments, desirable locations for wave and tidal energy development have multiple natural sources of sound (e.g., waves, wind, and sediment transport), varying levels of anthropogenic and biological noise, and measurement quality challenges (e.g., flow-noise, self-noise). Many marine animals rely on sound for biological functions, including communication, social interaction, orientation, foraging, and evasion. The extent to which marine animals detect and produce sound varies by frequency (spanning roughly four decades from 10 Hz to 100 kHz) and is taxa-specific. Because of the relatively limited data available, hearing sensitivity is often generalized to taxonomic groups (e.g., cetaceans that have low-frequency hearing specialization). https://tethys.pnnl.gov/publications/state-of-the-science-2020-chapter-4-underwater-noise

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1633082
• Report Number(s): PNNL--29976CHPT4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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