TY - JOUR
TI - Underwater noise levels of pile-driving in a New Zealand harbour, and the potential impacts on endangered Hector's dolphins
AU - Leunissen, E
AU - Dawson, S
T2 - Marine Pollution Bulletin
AB - Impact pile-driving generates loud underwater anthropogenic sounds, and is routinely conducted in harbours around the world. Surprisingly few studies of these sounds and their propagation are published in the primary literature. To partially redress this we studied pile-driving sounds in Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand, during wharf reconstruction after earthquake damage. That Lyttelton harbour is routinely used by Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori), an endangered species found only in New Zealand, provided further context for this study. Steel piles of 0.61 or 0.71 m diameter were driven using three different pile-drivers. Maximum calculated source SEL was 192 dB re 1 mu Pa(2)s @ 1 m (SPL0-p of 213 dB re 1 mu Pa @ 1 m). Propagation of piling noise was strongly influenced by harbour bathymetry and a rock breakwater near the piling operation. We calculated range estimates at which Hector's dolphins may suffer temporary hearing threshold shift and behavioural change.
DA - 2018/10//
PY - 2018
VL - 135
SP - 195
EP - 204
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X18305022
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.07.024
LA - English
KW - Wind Energy
KW - Fixed Offshore Wind
KW - Noise
KW - Marine Mammals
KW - Cetaceans
ER -