Dear MarMam community and colleagues, My Co-Authors and I are pleased to advertise our recent publication. We investigated the potential for a temporary threshold shift in harbour porpoises from the reception of multiple pile driving strikes during simulated flights. We present a novel and easy to apply evaluation tool, which sheds a light on a gap in current protective regulations. This evaluation tool can be easily tested and adjusted for other scenarios by the provided code, written in R.
Citation: Tobias Schaffeld, Joseph G. Schnitzler, Andreas Ruser, Benno Woelfing, Johannes Baltzer and Ursula Siebert (2019). “Effects of multiple exposure to pile-driving noise on harbor porpoise hearing during simulated flights - an evaluation tool,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 147, Issue 2, 4288–4298. Download link: https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0000595 Abstract: Exploitation of renewable energy from offshore wind farms is substantially increasing worldwide. The majority of wind turbines are bottom mounted, causing high levels of impulsive noise during construction. To prevent temporary threshold shifts (TTS) in harbor porpoise hearing, single strike sound exposure levels (SELSS) are restricted in Germany by law to a maximum of 160 dB re 1 μPa2s at a distance of 750 m from the sound source. Underwater recordings of pile driving strikes, recorded during the construction of an offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, were analyzed. Using a simulation approach, it was tested whether a TTS can still be induced under current protective regulations by multiple exposures. The evaluation tool presented here can be easily adjusted for different sound propagation, acoustic signals, or species and enables one to calculate a minimum deterrence distance. Based on this simulation approach, only the combination of SELSS regulation, previous deterrence, and soft start allow harbor porpoises to avoid a TTS from multiple exposures. However, deterrence efficiency has to be monitored.. Do not hesitate to contact me for further questions. Thanks for your interest! With kind regards Tobias Schaffeld ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Tobias Schaffeld Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation Werftstr. 6 / 25761 Büsum / Germany Tel +49 511 856 8164 / Fax +49 511 856-8181 http://www.tiho-hannover.de/kliniken-institute/institute/institut-fuer-terrestrische-und-aquatische-wildtierforschung/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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