Exploitation of renewable energy from offshore wind farms is substantially increasing worldwide. The majority of wind turbines are bottom mounted, causing high levels of impulsive noise during construction. To prevent temporary threshold shifts (TTS) in harbor porpoise hearing, single strike sound exposure levels (SELSS) are restricted in Germany by law to a maximum of 160 dB re 1 μPa2s at a distance of 750 m from the sound source. Underwater recordings of pile driving strikes, recorded during the construction of an offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, were analyzed. Using a simulation approach, it was tested whether a TTS can still be induced under current protective regulations by multiple exposures. The evaluation tool presented here can be easily adjusted for different sound propagation, acoustic signals, or species and enables one to calculate a minimum deterrence distance. Based on this simulation approach, only the combination of SELSS regulation, previous deterrence, and soft start allow harbor porpoises to avoid a TTS from multiple exposures. However, deterrence efficiency has to be monitored.
References
1.
Aguilar de Soto
, N.
, Gkikopoulou
, K.
, Hooker
, S. K.
, Isojunno
, S.
, Johnson
, M.
, Miller
, P.
, Tyack
, P.
, Wensveen
, P. J.
, Donovan
, C.
, Harris
, C. M.
, Harris
, D.
, Marshall
, L.
, Oedekoven
, C.
, Prieto
, R.
, and Thomas
, L.
(2016
). “From physiology to policy: A review of physiological noise effects on marine fauna with implications for mitigation
,” Proc. Mtgs. Acoust.
27
, 40008
.2.
Ainslie
, M. A.
, Dahl
, P. H.
, de Jong
, C. A. F.
, and Laws
, R. M.
(2014
). “Practical spreading laws: The snakes and ladders
,” in UA2014-2nd International Conference and Exhibition on Underwater Acoustics
, Rhodes, Greece.3.
ASCOBANS
(2002
). Recovery plan for Baltic harbour porpoises (Jastarnia Plan), Bonn, Germany (July, 2002).4.
Bas
, A. A.
, Christiansen
, F.
, Öztürk
, A. A.
, Öztürk
, B.
, and McIntosh
, C.
(2017
). “The effects of marine traffic on the behaviour of Black Sea harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena relicta) within the Istanbul Strait, Turkey
,” PLoS One
12
, 1
–20
.5.
BMU
(2014
). “Concept for the protection of harbour porpoises from sound exposures during the construction of offshore wind farms in the German North Sea (Sound Protection Concept).
”6.
BMWI
(2012
). “Research for an environmentally sound, reliable and affordable energy supply
,” 6th Energy Research Programme of the Federal Government, www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/EN/Publikationen/research-for-an-environmentally-sound-reliable-and-affordable-energy-supply.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3 (Last viewed 1/22/2020).7.
Bodson
, A.
, Miersch
, L.
, and Dehnhardt
, G.
(2007
). “Underwater localization of pure tones by harbor seals (Phoca vitulina)
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
122
, 2263
–2269
.8.
Brandt
, M. J.
, Dragon
, A. C.
, Diederichs
, A.
, Bellmann
, M. A.
, Wahl
, V.
, Piper
, W.
, Nabe-Nielsen
, J.
, and Nehls
, G.
(2018
). “Disturbance of harbour porpoises during construction of the first seven offshore wind farms in Germany
,” Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.
596
, 213
–232
.9.
Brandt
, M. J.
, Höschle
, C.
, Diederichs
, A.
, Betke
, K.
, Matuschek
, R.
, and Nehls
, G.
(2013
). “Seal scarers as a tool to deter harbour porpoises from offshore construction sites
,” Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.
475
, 291
–302
.10.
Brandt
, M. J.
, Höschle
, C.
, Diederichs
, A.
, Betke
, K.
, Matuschek
, R.
, Witte
, S.
, and Nehls
, G.
(2012
). “Far-reaching effects of a seal scarer on harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena
,” Aquat. Conserv. Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst.
23
, 222
–232
.11.
Branstetter
, B. K.
, and Mercado
, E.
III (2006
). “Sound localization by cetaceans
,” Int. J. Comp. Psychol.
19
, 26
–61
.12.
Clausen
, K. T.
, Wahlberg
, M.
, Beedholm
, K.
, DeRuiter
, S.
, and Madsen
, P. T.
(2010
). “Click communication in harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena
,” Bioacoustics
20
, 1
–28
.13.
Corless
, R. M.
, Gonnet
, G. H.
, Hare
, D. E. G.
, Jeffrey
, D. J.
, and Knuth
, D. E.
(1996
). “On the Lambert W function
,” Adv. Comput. Math.
5
, 329
–359
.14.
Dähne
, M.
, Tougaard
, J.
, Carstensen
, J.
, Rose
, A.
, and Nabe-Nielsen
, J.
(2017
). “Bubble curtains attenuate noise from offshore wind farm construction and reduce temporary habitat loss for harbour porpoises
,” Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.
580
, 221
–237
.15.
Dähne
, M.
, Verfuß
, U. K.
, Brandecker
, A.
, Siebert
, U.
, and Benke
, H.
(2013
). “Methodology and results of calibration of tonal click detectors for small odontocetes (C-PODs)
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
134
, 2514
–2522
.16.
DeRuiter
, S. L.
, Bahr
, A.
, Blanchet
, M.-A.
, Hansen
, S. F.
, Kristensen
, J. H.
, Madsen
, P. T.
, Tyack
, P. L.
, and Wahlberg
, M.
(2009
). “Acoustic behaviour of echolocating porpoises during prey capture
,” J. Exp. Biol.
212
, 3100
–3107
.17.
Dyndo
, M.
, Wiśniewska
, D. M.
, Rojano-Doñate
, L.
, and Madsen
, P. T.
(2015
). “Harbour porpoises react to low levels of high frequency vessel noise
,” Sci. Rep.
5
, 11083
.18.
Elmer
, K.-H.
, Gattermann
, J.
, Kuhn
, C.
, and Bruns
, B.
(2012
). “Mitigation of underwater piling noise by air filled balloons and PE-foam elements as hydro sound dampers
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
132
, 2056
–2056
.19.
European Union
(1992
). “Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992
,” Off. J. Eur. Commun.
35
, 7
–51
.20.
European Union
(2004
). “Council Regulation (EC) No 812/2004 of 26.4.2004 laying down measures concerning incidental catches of cetaceans in fisheries and amending Regulation (EC)
,” Off. J. Eur. Union
88/89
, 1
–20
.21.
Finneran
, J. J.
(2015
). “Noise-induced hearing loss in marine mammals: A review of temporary threshold shift studies from 1996 to 2015
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
138
, 1702
–1726
.22.
Finneran
, J. J.
, Carder
, D. A.
, Schlundt
, C. E.
, and Dear
, R. L.
(2010a
). “Growth and recovery of temporary threshold shift at 3 kHz in bottlenose dolphins: Experimental data and mathematical models
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
127
, 3256
–3266
.23.
Finneran
, J. J.
, Carder
, D. A.
, Schlundt
, C. E.
, and Dear
, R. L.
(2010b
). “Temporary threshold shift in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) exposed to intermittent tones
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
127
, 3267
–3272
.24.
Gallagher
, C. A.
, Stern
, S. J.
, and Hines
, E.
(2018
). “The metabolic cost of swimming and reproduction in harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) as predicted by a bioenergetic model
,” Mar. Mammal Sci.
34
, 875
–900
.25.
Gaskin
, D. E.
, Arnold
, P. W.
, and Blair
, B. A.
(1974
). “Phocoena phocoena
,” Mamm. Species
42
, 1
–8
.26.
Gerdes
, F.
, and Görler
, M.
(2016
). “Untersuchungen der Variabilität der Unterwasserschallausbreitung in der Nordsee” (“Investigations on variability of underwater sound propagation in the North Sea”)
, Fortschr. Akust.
143
–146
.27.
Gerdes
, F.
, Wildemann
, M.
, Müller
, A.
, and Zerbs
, C.
(2016
). “Measurements of pile driving noise at the research platform FINO3
,” in INTER-NOISE NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings
, Institute of Noise Control Engineering, pp. 2844
–2851
.28.
Houser
, D. S.
, Yost
, W.
, Burkard
, R.
, Finneran
, J. J.
, Reichmuth
, C.
, and Mulsow
, J.
(2017
). “A review of the history, development and application of auditory weighting functions in humans and marine mammals
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
141
, 1371
–1413
.29.
ISO
(2017
). ISO 18406, “Underwater acoustics—Measurement of radiated underwater sound from percussive pile driving
” (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland).30.
Johnson
, M. P.
, Aguilar de Soto
, N.
, and Madsen
, P. T.
(2009
). “Studying the behaviour and sensory ecology of marine mammals using acoustic recording tags: A review
,” Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.
395
, 55
–73
.31.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Gransier
, R.
, Marijt
, M. A. T.
, and Hoek
, L.
(2015a
). “Hearing frequency thresholds of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) temporarily affected by played back offshore pile driving sounds
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
137
, 556
–564
.32.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Gransier
, R.
, Schop
, J.
, and Hoek
, L.
(2015b
). “Effects of exposure to intermittent and continuous 6–7 kHz sonar sweeps on harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) hearing
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
137
, 1623
–1633
.33.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Haan
, D. De
, and Verboom
, W. C.
(2007
). “The influence of signal parameters on the sound source localization ability of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena
),” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
122
, 1238
–1248
.34.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Helder-Hoek
, L.
, Covi
, J.
, and Gransier
, R.
(2016
). “Pile driving playback sounds and temporary threshold shift in harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena): Effect of exposure duration
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
139
, 2842
–2851
.35.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Helder-Hoek
, L.
, Van de Voorde
, S.
, von Benda-Beckmann
, A. M.
, Lam
, F.-P. A.
, Jansen
, E.
, de Jong
, C. A. F.
, and Ainslie
, M. A.
(2017
). “Temporary hearing threshold shift in a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) after exposure to multiple airgun sounds
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
142
, 2430
–2442
.36.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Hoek
, L.
, Gransier
, R.
, Rambags
, M.
, and Claeys
, N.
(2014
). “Effect of level, duration, and inter-pulse interval of 1–2 kHz sonar signal exposures on harbor porpoise hearing
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
136
, 412
–422
.37.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Janssen
, M.
, Verboom
, W. C.
, and de Haan
, D.
(2005
). “Receiving beam patterns in the horizontal plane of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena
),” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
118
, 1172
–1179
.38.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, Van de Voorde
, S.
, and Jennings
, N.
(2018
). “Swimming speed of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) during playbacks of offshore pile driving sounds title
,” Aquat. Mamm.
44
, 92
–99
.39.
Kastelein
, R. A.
, van Heerden
, D.
, Gransier
, R.
, and Hoek
, L.
(2013
). “Behavioral responses of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) to playbacks of broadband pile driving sounds
,” Mar. Environ. Res.
92
, 206
–214
.40.
Kunc
, H. P.
, McLaughlin
, K. E.
, and Schmidt
, R.
(2016
). “Aquatic noise pollution: Implications for individuals, populations, and ecosystems
,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B: Biol. Sci.
283
, 20160839
.41.
Linnenschmidt
, M.
, Teilmann
, J.
, Akamatsu
, T.
, Dietz
, R.
, and Miller
, L. A.
(2013
). “Biosonar, dive, and foraging activity of satellite tracked harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
,” Mar. Mammal Sci.
29
, 1
–21
.42.
Lippert
, T.
, Ainslie
, M. A.
, and von Estorff
, O.
(2018
). “Pile driving acoustics made simple: Damped cylindrical spreading model
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
143
, 310
–317
.43.
Lucke
, K.
, Lepper
, P. A.
, Blanchet
, M.-A.
, and Siebert
, U.
(2011
). “The use of an air bubble curtain to reduce the received sound levels for harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena
),” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
130
, 3406
–3412
.44.
Lucke
, K.
, Siebert
, U.
, Lepper
, P. A.
, and Blanchet
, M.-A.
(2009
). “Temporary shift in masked hearing thresholds in a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) after exposure to seismic airgun stimuli
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
125
, 4060
–4070
.45.
Madsen
, P. T.
, Wahlberg
, M.
, Tougaard
, J.
, Lucke
, K.
, and Tyack
, P.
(2006
). “Wind turbine underwater noise and marine mammals: Implications of current knowledge and data needs
,” Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.
309
, 279
–295
.46.
Marsh
, H. W.
, and Schulkin
, M.
(1962
). “Shallow-water transmission
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
34
, 863
–864
.47.
Martin
, S. B.
, and Barclay
, D. R.
(2019
). “Determining the dependence of marine pile driving sound levels on strike energy, pile penetration, and propagation effects using a linear mixed model based on damped cylindrical spreading
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
146
, 109
–121
.48.
Mooney
, T. A.
, Nachtigall
, P. E.
, Breese
, M.
, Vlachos
, S.
, and Au
, W. W. L.
(2009
). “Predicting temporary threshold shifts in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): The effects of noise level and duration
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
125
, 1816
–1826
.49.
Müller
, A.
, and Zerbs
, C.
(2011
). Offshore-Windparks Messvorschrift für Unterwasserschallmessungen (Offshore-Windfarm Regulation for Underwater Sound Measurements
) (Müller-BBM und BSH
, Hamburg
).50.
Otani
, S.
, Naito
, Y.
, Kato
, A.
, and Kawamura
, A.
(2000
). “Diving behavior and swimming speed of a free-ranging harbor porpoise, Phocoena phocoena
,” Mar. Mammal Sci.
16
, 811
–814
.51.
Otani
, S.
, Naito
, Y.
, Kato
, A.
, and Kawamura
, A.
(2001
). “Oxygen consumption and swim speed of the harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena
,” Fish. Sci.
67
, 894
–898
.52.
Pelc
, R.
, and Fujita
, R. M.
(2002
). “Renewable energy from the ocean
,” Mar. Policy
26
, 471
–479
.53.
Pirotta
, E.
, Brookes
, K. L.
, Graham
, I. M.
, and Thompson
, P. M.
(2014
). “Variation in harbour porpoise activity in response to seismic survey noise
,” Biol. Lett.
10
, 5
.54.
Pirotta
, E.
, Harwood
, J.
, Thompson
, P. M.
, New
, L. F.
, Cheney
, B.
, Arso
, M.
, Hammond
, P. S.
, Donovan
, C.
, and Lusseau
, D.
(2015
). “Predicting the effects of human developments on individual dolphins to understand potential long-term population consequences
,” Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci.
282
, 20152109
.55.
Popov
, V. V.
, Supin
, A. Y.
, Rozhnov
, V. V.
, Nechaev
, D. I.
, and Sysueva
, E. V
(2014
). “The limits of applicability of the sound exposure level (SEL) metric to temporal threshold shifts (TTS) in beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas
,” J. Exp. Biol.
217
, 1804
–1810
.56.
R Core Team
(2019
). “R: A language and environment for statistical computing
,” R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, https://www.R-project.org/ (Last viewed 1/27/2020).57.
Remy
, T.
, and Mbistrova
, A.
(2018
). Offshore wind in Europe - Key trends and statistics 2017 Brussels, 1
–37
pages.58.
Ruser
, A.
, Woelfing
, B.
, Baltzer
, J.
, Schaffeld
, T.
, Fischer
, M.
, Schuster
, M.
, Findeisen
, H.
, Holz
, F.
, Stührk
, P.
, Rasmussen
, M. H.
, and Siebert
, U.
(2016
). Ermittlung des Einflusses der Bauphase des Windparks Amrumbank West im SCi Sylter Außenriff auf Schweinswale (Determination of Impact of the Construction Phase of the Wind Farms “Butendiek” and “Amrumbank West” in SCI “Sylt Outer Reef” on Harbor Porpoises Büsum, 75
pages.59.
Sørensen
, P. M.
, Wisniewska
, D. M.
, Jensen
, F. H.
, Johnson
, M.
, Teilmann
, J.
, and Madsen
, P. T.
(2018
). “Click communication in wild harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
,” Sci. Rep.
8
, 9702
.60.
Southall
, B. L.
, Finneran
, J. J.
, Reichmuth
, C.
, Nachtigall
, P. E.
, Ketten
, D. R.
, Bowles
, A. E.
, Ellison
, W. T.
, Nowacek
, D. P.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2019
). “Marine mammal noise exposure criteria: Updated scientific recommendations for residual hearing effects
,” Aquat. Mamm.
45
, 125
–232
.61.
Tougaard
, J.
, Carstensen
, J.
, Teilmann
, J.
, Skov
, H.
, and Rasmussen
, P.
(2009
). “Pile driving zone of responsiveness extends beyond 20 km for harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena (L
.)),” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
126
, 11
–14
.62.
Tougaard
, J.
, and Dähne
, M.
(2017
). “Why is auditory frequency weighting so important in regulation of underwater noise?
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
142
, EL415
–EL420
.63.
van der Hoop
, J. M.
, Fahlman
, A.
, Hurst
, T.
, Rocho-Levine
, J.
, Shorter
, K. A.
, Petrov
, V.
, and Moore
, M. J.
(2014
). “Bottlenose dolphins modify behavior to reduce metabolic effect of tag attachment
,” J. Exp. Biol.
217
, 4229
–4236
.64.
Villadsgaard
, A.
, Wahlberg
, M.
, and Tougaard
, J.
(2007
). “Echolocation signals of wild harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena
,” J. Exp. Biol.
210
, 56
–64
.65.
von Benda-Beckmann
, A. M.
, Aarts
, G.
, Sertlek
, H. Ö.
, Lucke
, K.
, Verboom
, W. C.
, Kastelein
, R. A.
, Ketten
, D. R.
, van Bemmelen
, R.
, Lam
, F.-P. A.
, Kirkwood
, R. J.
, and Ainslie
, M. A.
(2015
). “Assessing the impact of underwater clearance of unexploded ordnance on harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Southern North Sea
,” Aquat. Mamm.
41
, 503
–523
.66.
Ward
, W. D.
, Cushing
, E. M.
, and Burns
, E. M.
(1976
). “Effective quiet and moderate TTS: Implications for noise exposure standards
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
59
, 160
–165
.67.
Wisniewska
, D. M.
, Johnson
, M.
, Teilmann
, J.
, Siebert
, U.
, Galatius
, A.
, Dietz
, R.
, and Madsen
, P. T.
(2018
). “High rates of vessel noise disrupt foraging in wild harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena
),” Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci.
285
, 20172314
.68.
Wisniewska
, D. M. M.
, Johnson
, M.
, Teilmann
, J.
, Rojano-Doñate
, L.
, Shearer
, J.
, Sveegaard
, S.
, Miller
, L. A. A.
, Siebert
, U.
, and Madsen
, P. T. T.
(2016
). “Ultra-high foraging rates of harbor porpoises make them vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance
,” Curr. Biol.
26
, 1441
–1446
.69.
Wright
, A. J.
, Soto
, N. A.
, Baldwin
, A. L.
, Bateson
, M.
, Beale
, C. M.
, Clark
, C.
, Deak
, T.
, Edwards
, E. F.
, Ferández
, A.
, Godinho
, A.
, Hatch
, L. T.
, Kakuschke
, A.
, Lusseau
, D.
, Martineau
, D.
, Romero
, M. L.
, Weilgart
, L. S.
, Wintle
, B. A.
, Notarbartolo di Sciara
, G.
, and Martin
, V.
(2007
). “Do marine mammals experience stress related to anthropogenic noise?
,” Int. J. Comp. Psychol.
20
, 274
–316
.70.
Würsig
, B.
, Greene
, C. R.
, Jr., and Jefferson
, T. A.
(2000
). “Development of an air bubble curtain to reduce underwater noise of percussive piling
,” Mar. Environ. Res.
49
, 79
–93
.71.
Zampolli
, M.
, Nijhof
, M. J. J.
, de Jong
, C. A. F.
, Ainslie
, M. A.
, Jansen
, E. H. W.
, and Quesson
, B. A. J.
(2013
). “Validation of finite element computations for the quantitative prediction of underwater noise from impact pile driving
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
133
, 72
–81
.© 2020 Acoustical Society of America.
2020
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.
