Radiated noise from commercial ships in the Gulf of Maine: Implications for whale/vessel collisions

J. Kaitlyn Allen, Michael L. Peterson, George V. Sharrard, Dana L. Wright, Sean K. Todd

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

To understand mysticete acoustic-based detection of ships, radiated noise from high-speed craft, cruise ships, catamarans and fishing vessels was recorded June-September 2009. Calibrated acoustic data (2500 Hz) from a vertical hydrophone array was combined with ship passage information. A cruise ship had the highest broadband source level, while a fishing vessel had the lowest. Ship noise radiated asymmetrically and varied with depth. Bow null-effect acoustic shadow zones were observed for all ship classes and were correlated with ship-length-to-draft-ratios. These shadow zones may reduce ship detection by near-surface mysticetes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)EL229-EL235
JournalJournal of the Acoustical Society of America
Volume132
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the NSF IGERT Sensor Science, Engineering and Informatics. Additional support was provided by the Maine Space Grant Consortium, University of Maine, and the Bar Harbor Whale Watch.

Funding

This work was supported by the NSF IGERT Sensor Science, Engineering and Informatics. Additional support was provided by the Maine Space Grant Consortium, University of Maine, and the Bar Harbor Whale Watch.

FundersFunder number
Bar Harbor Whale Watch
U.S. Department of Energy Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project Oak Ridge National Laboratory Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment National Science Foundation National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center National Natural Science Foundation of China
University of Southern Maine

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
    • Acoustics and Ultrasonics

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