Noise

Sound generated during the construction or operation of a device.

During the construction of wind energy or marine renewable energy devices, substantial noise levels can be produced by vessel or vehicle traffic and installation activities (e.g., pile driving, cable burial). Operation of these devices may additionally produce low levels of noise from the rotation of turbine blades, movement of floating devices on the surface, or strumming of mooring lines and cables. Measures to reduce noise impacts in the marine environment include the use of bubble curtains during pile driving and careful siting and timing of construction activities to avoid species’ critical migration routes and times.

Sound propagates farther and faster in water than in air, which can result in greater consequences for the marine environment. Coupled with the many other sources of anthropogenic noise in the marine environment (e.g., ships, seismic studies), the noise from offshore wind and marine renewable energy devices may impact many marine species. Noise may interfere with marine organisms’ communication, navigation, detection of prey, and ability to interact with their environment, as well as causing attraction to or avoidance of devices. Additionally, some marine organisms may be physically harmed from excessive noise exposure (e.g., tissue and nerve damage).

For more information relevant to marine energy, check out the Underwater Noise Short Science Summary produced by OES Environmental.

For more information relevant to offshore wind energy, check out the Underwater Noise Effects on Marine Life research brief produced by SEER.

Marine and Wind Energy Environmental Documents

Tethys is a knowledge hub that contains documents on the environmental effects of wind and marine energy. The table below contains all of the documents in the Tethys Knowledge Base associated with Noise.

Total: 1475

Searches title and abstract.
Title Author Date Content Type Technology Stressor Receptor
Sound pressure kurtosis analysis for impact pile driving including noise mitigation Peng, Y., Sertlek, O., Tsouvalas, A. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise
Effects of Concurrent Pile Driving on Marine Mammal Acoustic Range Tripathy, A., Fowler, K., Fowler, K. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Quantifying Underwater Acoustic Noise and Its Possible Effects on Fishes: A Review Klin, P., Poveda, P., Cianferra, M. Journal Article Noise Fish, Demersal Fish
Effects of Onshore Wind Energy on Semi-Domesticated Reindeer WREN, Thant, Z., May, R. Summary Wind Energy, Land-Based Wind Avoidance, Habitat Change, Noise Terrestrial Mammals, Human Dimensions
The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Offshore Energy and Environmental Research Ryu, S., Dempsey, L., Ampela, K. Summary Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Collision, EMF, Habitat Change, Noise, Vessel Strike Bats, Birds, Fish, Marine Mammals, Physical Environment, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Human Dimensions
Acoustic Impact of a Floating Wind Turbine Prototype in the Mediterranean Sea Buscaino, G., Papale, E., Ceraulo, M. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Fish, Marine Mammals
Near Real-Time Passive Acoustic Mitigation Monitoring: Three Case Studies Malinka, C., Tabbutt, S., Matei, M. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Near Real-Time Passive Acoustic Mitigation Monitoring: Three Case Studies Malinka, C., Tabbutt, S., Matei, M. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Quantifying the Effects of Mitigation Measures on North Sea Shipping Noise de Jong,C., Gaida, T., Binnerts, B. Book Chapter Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise
From sea basins to projects: Process harmonization for better environmental monitoring Offshore Coalition For Energy & Nature (OCEaN) Guidance Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Attraction, Avoidance, Displacement, Habitat Change, Noise Human Dimensions, Legal & Policy
Underwater Radiated Noise Levels along the California Coast for Participating Vessels in the 2025 Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program Conti, M., Reeves, L., Haver, S. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Fish and Fisheries Offshore Wind Research Gaps Analysis Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Attraction, Avoidance, Displacement, EMF, Habitat Change, Noise Human Dimensions, Fisheries, Social & Economic Data
Ecological impacts of offshore wind power construction and operation on zooplankton communities in South China sea Peng, Z., Lu, M., Huang, W. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Habitat Change, Noise Invertebrates
Harbour porpoise population response to windfarm construction, service traffic, and changes in prey availability Weller, F., Cordier, A., Frankish, C. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Underwater Noise in Offshore Wind Farms: Monitoring Technologies, Acoustic Characteristics, and Long-Term Adaptive Management Zhu, P., Hu, Z., Li, H. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals
Changes in the distribution and abundance of common scoter and diver species in the Horns Rev I, II and III offshore windfarm areas, Denmark, 2025: Bird distribution responses to wind farms, Horns Rev Scott-Hayward, L., Petersen, I.K., Mackenzie, M. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Avoidance, Displacement, Habitat Change, Lighting, Noise Birds, Seabirds, Waterfowl
An Optimized MATLAB Software Package for the Analysis and Characterization of Underwater Sound Produced by Wind Farms Diaz, J., Neves, S., Delory, E. Conference Paper Wind Energy Noise
OFF-COUSTICS: Predicting The Underwater Acoustic Footprint Of Offshore Wind Turbines Ferrer, E., Botero-Bolivar, L., Marino, O. Conference Paper Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise
10 Things to consider before approving another offshore wind farm: A case study for Highland, Scotland Goddijn-Murphy, L. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Changes in Flow, Collision, Habitat Change, Lighting, Noise Human Dimensions
Cumulative effects of largescale offshore wind development on underwater noise levels in Danish waters Griffiths, E., Jensen, F., Tougaard, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise
Cumulative impacts of offshore wind and commercial vessels on harbour porpoise populations in Danish waters Gallagher, C., Frankish, C., Teilmann, J. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Avoidance, Displacement, Noise Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Environmental Effects Monitoring Program Annual Report 2025 Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) Report Marine Energy, Tidal Attraction, Avoidance, Collision, Displacement, Noise Birds, Seabirds, Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals
A Modeling Approach to Aggregated Noise Effects of Offshore Wind Farms in the Canary and North Seas Urtiaga-Chasco, I., Hernández-Guerra, A. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals
Sound propagation analysis of a 10 MW wind turbine: Influence of the tower, operational states, and atmospheric conditions Sun, Z., Zhu, W., Jané, E. Journal Article Wind Energy Noise
Passive Acoustic Monitoring of a Riverine Turbine with Stationary Hydrophones Cotter, E., Haxel, J., McVey, J. Report Marine Energy, Riverine Noise
Balancing wind energy expansion and fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea: A trait-based assessment of vulnerability to floating offshore wind farms for commercially important species Wawrzynkowski, P., Sabatés, A., Lloret, J. Journal Article Wind Energy, Floating Offshore Wind Changes in Flow, Chemicals, EMF, Entanglement, Lighting, Noise Fish, Invertebrates, Physical Environment, Human Dimensions, Fisheries, Legal & Policy, Marine Spatial Planning
A Porpoise-Driven Approach: Using Agent-Based Models to Predict Population Consequences of Offshore Wind Noises on Gulf of Maine Harbor Porpoises Pridonoff, B. Thesis Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
All tide up: addressing the regulatory and environmental barriers affecting tidal energy development in British Columbia Kelsey, A. Thesis Marine Energy, Tidal Collision, EMF, Noise Human Dimensions, Legal & Policy, Social & Economic Data, Stakeholder Engagement
Characteristics of Ambient Seismic Noise Recorded at Offshore Wind Turbine Platform Monitoring Stations Wang, J., Zheng, J., Sun, Y. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise
Managing the effects of offshore wind farm noise on marine animals: Lessons learned after 25 years of research in Europe and beyond Thomsen, F. Conference Paper Wind Energy, Land-Based Wind Noise Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals
Robust real-time detection of right whale upcalls using neural networks on the edge Hyer, M., Anderson, A., Mann, D. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise, Vessel Strike Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Overview of the potential ecological impacts of three offshore locations for wind farms in Aotearoa New Zealand McKinlay, B., van Helden, A., Taylor, G. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Attraction, Avoidance, Collision, Displacement, EMF, Entanglement, Noise, Vessel Strike Birds, Fish, Marine Mammals, Reptiles, Sea Turtles
Case-dependent impacts of offshore wind farms on ecosystems: A systematic review and meta-analysis Thomassen, J., Brown, E., Henriksen, O. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Changes in Flow, Chemicals, Displacement, EMF, Habitat Change, Noise Birds, Ecosystem Processes, Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals
Mitigating Underwater Noise from Offshore Wind Turbines via Individual Pitch Control de Frutos, M., Bolivar, L., Ferrer, E. Journal Article Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise
Wind Energy Interactions with Wildlife Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Based on the State of the Science Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute (REWI) Report Wind Energy, Land-Based Wind Attraction, Avoidance, Collision, Noise Bats, Birds
Tidal flow masks acoustic detections of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena): Implications for passive acoustic studies of cetaceans Veneruso, G., Chapuis, L., Hastie, G. Journal Article Marine Energy, Tidal Noise Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Misplaced fears? What the evidence reveals of the ecological effects of tidal power generation Ascher, S., Gray, I., Collins, C. Journal Article Marine Energy, Tidal Changes in Flow, Collision, Habitat Change, Noise Birds, Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals
Advances in the Development of Monitoring Systems Allying Acoustic Real-Time Data and Model Validation for Effective Management of Underwater Noise Pollution Maglio, A., Fossa, F. Conference Paper Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind Noise
Right Wind: Resolving Protected Species Space-Use Conflicts in Wind Energy Areas Ganley, L., Rice, A., Ryder, M. Report Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Establishing a Passive Acoustic Monitoring Network Along the U.S. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Martin, M., Staaterman, E., Reeve, M. Conference Paper Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind Noise
Displaying 1 - 40 of 1475 results