Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    Estimating received sound levels at the seafloor beneath seismic survey sources

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Duncan, Alec
    Date
    2016
    Type
    Conference Paper
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Duncan, A. 2016. Estimating received sound levels at the seafloor beneath seismic survey sources, pp. 476-483.
    Source Title
    2nd Australasian Acoustical Societies Conference, ACOUSTICS 2016
    ISBN
    9781510837393
    School
    Centre for Marine Science and Technology
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55524
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    The offshore seismic survey industry typically uses arrays of devices called airguns to generate the intense, lowfrequency sounds required for imaging the seabed geology. Concerns have arisen about the impacts that these high intensity sounds may have on benthic species, such as shellfish, site attached fish and crustaceans, that have little or no capacity to move out of the way of an approaching seismic vessel. In order to assess the impacts a survey may have on these species it is essential to have a means of predicting the sound levels they are likely to be subjected to. This paper discusses the characteristics of the sound field beneath a typical seismic airgun array and compares results obtained using some simplistic formulae for predicting sound exposure level and peak sound pressure level, that are applicable in the acoustic far-field of the array, to those obtained using a more accurate model that includes array near-field effects. For the typical medium-sized 49.2 l (3000 in3) airgun array considered here the predicted near-field to far-field transition distance was 14.5 m and a simple equivalent point source model was found to over predict the sound exposure level by 1.1 dB and to over predict the peak sound pressure level by 3.3 dB at this distance below the array. At double this distance these errors had reduced to 0.6 dB and 1.4 dB respectively.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Propagation of underwater noise from an offshore seismic survey in Australia to Antarctica: Measurements and modelling
      Gavrilov, Alexander (2017)
      An offshore seismic survey was conducted over the western edge of the continental shelf in Bass Strait in 2006. Underwater noise from this survey was recorded on an autonomous sound recorder deployed in the Southern Ocean ...
    • Propagation of Underwater Noise from an Offshore Seismic Survey in Australia to Antarctica: Measurements and Modelling
      Gavrilov, Alexander (2018)
      © 2018, Australian Acoustical Society. An offshore seismic survey was conducted over the western edge of the continental shelf in Bass Strait in 2006. Underwater noise from this survey was recorded on an autonomous sound ...
    • Project BRAHSS: behavioural response of Australian humpback whales to seismic surveys.
      Cato, Douglas; Noad, Michael; Dunlop, Rebecca; McCauley, Robert; Gales, Nick; Salgado-Kent, Chandra; Kniest, Hendrik; Paton, David; Jenner, Curt; Noad, John; Maggi, Amos; Parnum, Iain; Duncan, Alexander (2012)
      BRAHSS is a major project aimed at understanding how humpback whales respond to noise, particularly from seismic air gun arrays. It also aims to infer the longer term biological significance of the responses from the ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.