9 UNDERWATER NOISE MODELLING
9.1 Introduction 1.
This report estimates the underwater acoustic emissions associated with construction, operation and decommissioning at East Anglia THREE and assesses the potential for the impact piling noise to impact marine fauna. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has been contracted by East Anglia THREE Limited (EATL) to undertake an assessment of piling noise to inform the Environmental Statement for East Anglia THREE. The methodology for this assessment, described in detail in Section 9.4 and Section 9.5, is designed to estimate the likely underwater noise levels generated by East Anglia THREE construction in order to inform of the potential for the radiated underwater noise to impact sensitive marine fauna. Consideration was also given to the potential for auditory injury from prolonged exposure and the effect of multiple concurrently operating piling vessels on the extent of the impacted area.
2.
The assessment was undertaken in the context of guidance documents and directives relating to underwater noise (JNCC 2010; NPS EN-1 July 2011; NPS EN- 3 July 2011; MSFD 2008/56/EC 2008; Robinson 2014). The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) protocol for minimising the risk of injury to marine mammals from piling noise, (JNCC 2010), was used to inform the best practice mitigation approach.
3.
A thorough literature review was conducted to obtain and summarise the most relevant, up-to-date and internationally accepted impact criteria from peer reviewed literature in order to assess the impact on marine mammals and fish. For marine mammals, the work of Southall et al. (2007) and Lucke et al. (2009) was adopted and supported by empirical field work by Brandt et al. (2011) and Tougaard et al. (2009) on free-ranging harbour porpoise. Consideration has also been given to recent work by Kastelein et al. (2012; 2013a; 2013b; 2013c) in test tanks. Fish criteria were adopted from Popper et al. (2006) and Carlson et al. (2007) in terms of injury, while behavioural criteria were devised following the work of McCauley et al. (2000a) and Pearson et al. (1992). Consideration has also been given to recent work by Halvorsen et al. (2011) on fish injury and Mueller-Blenkle et al. (2010) on fish behaviour resulting from sound exposure. The risk posed to fish larvae has also been considered based on the finding of a recent study by Bolle et al. (2011; 2012).
4.
The criteria adopted for this assessment take into account current scientific evidence, and may result in different estimated impact ranges when compared to previous UK windfarm developments. It should also be acknowledged that there are still considerable knowledge gaps in understanding the effects of underwater sound
Preliminary Environmental Information May 2014
East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm Appendix 9.1 Underwater Noise Modelling 1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150