Investigation of the potential effects of underwater noise from petroleum-industry activities on feeding humpback whale behavior. Final report

Technical Report · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5245942

Malme, C I; Miles, P R; Tyack, P; Clark, C W; Bird, J E

An investigation was made of the potential effects of underwater noise from petroleum-industry activities on the behavior of feeding humpback whales in Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage, Alaska in August, 1984. Test sounds were a 100 cu. in. air gun and playbacks of recorded drillship, drilling platform, production platform, semi-submersible drill rig, and helicopter fly-over noise. Sound source levels and acoustic propagation losses were measured. The movement patterns of whales were determined by observations of whale-surfacing positions.

• Research Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc., Cambridge, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5245942
• Report Number(s): PB-86-218385/XAB; BBN-5851
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900* -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
520100 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BASELINE ECOLOGY
CETACEANS
DETECTION
DRILLING
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
INDUSTRY
LOSSES
MAMMALS
MOTION
NOISE POLLUTION
OFFSHORE DRILLING
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
POLLUTION
SEISMIC DETECTION
VERTEBRATES