Characterization of impact pile driving signals during installation of offshore wind turbine foundations.

Impact pile driving creates intense, impulsive sound that radiates into the surrounding environment. Piles driven vertically into the seabed generate an azimuthally symmetric underwater sound field whereas piles driven on an angle will generate an azimuthally dependent sound field. Measurements were made during pile driving of raked piles to secure jacket foundation structures to the seabed in waters off the northeastern coast of the U.S. at ranges between 500 m and 15 km. These measurements were analyzed to investigate variations in rise time, decay time, pulse duration, kurtosis, and sound received levels as a function of range and azimuth. Variations in the radiated sound field along opposing azimuths resulted in differences in measured sound exposure levels of up to 10 dB and greater due to the pile rake as the sound propagated in range. The raked pile configuration was modeled using an equivalent axisymmetric FEM model to describe the azimuthally dependent measured sound fields. Comparable sound level differences in the model results confirmed that the azimuthal discrepancy observed in the measured data was due to the inclination of the pile being driven relative to the receiver.

Song variation of the South Eastern Indian Ocean pygmy blue whale population in the Perth Canyon, Western Australia.

Sea noise collected over 2003 to 2017 from the Perth Canyon, Western Australia was analysed for variation in the South Eastern Indian Ocean pygmy blue whale song structure. The primary song-types were: P3, a three unit phrase (I, II and III) repeated with an inter-song interval (ISI) of 170-194 s; P2, a phrase consisting of only units II & III repeated every 84-96 s; and P1 with a phrase consisting of only unit II repeated every 45-49 s. The different ISI values were approximate multiples of each other within a season. When comparing data from each season, across seasons, the ISI value for each song increased significantly through time (all fits had p << 0.001), at 0.30 s/Year (95%CI 0.217-0.383), 0.8 s/Year (95%CI 0.655-1.025) and 1.73 s/Year (95%CI 1.264-2.196) for the P1, P2 and P3 songs respectively. The proportions of each song-type averaged at 21.5, 24.2 and 56% for P1, P2 and P3 occurrence respectively and these ratios could vary by up to ± 8% (95% CI) amongst years. On some occasions animals changed the P3 ISI to be significantly shorter (120-160 s) or longer (220-280 s). Hybrid song patterns occurred where animals combined multiple phrase types into a repeated song. In recent years whales introduced further complexity by splitting song units. This variability of song-type and proportions implies abundance measure for this whale sub population based on song detection needs to factor in trends in song variability to make data comparable between seasons. Further, such variability in song production by a sub population of pygmy blue whales raises questions as to the stability of the song types that are used to delineate populations. The high level of song variability may be driven by an increasing number of background whale callers creating 'noise' and so forcing animals to alter song in order to 'stand out' amongst the crowd.

Southbound migration corridor of pygmy blue whales off the northwest coast of Australia based on data from ocean bottom seismographs.

A line array of 14 ocean bottom seismographs was deployed on the Exmouth Plateau northwest of the North West Cape in Western Australia in December 2014-January 2015. Acoustic data collected with this array were used to evaluate the corridor of the southbound migration of pygmy blue whales of the eastern Indian Ocean population. It is found that pygmy blue whales tended to travel southward much further away from the Western Australian coast, at distances of up to 400 km from shore, than that expected from data on their northbound migration. This is an important observation providing additional information on the migration pattern of pygmy blue whales, which is crucial for assessing their population and migration by passive acoustic means.

"Spot" call: A common sound from an unidentified great whale in Australian temperate waters.

Underwater passive acoustic recordings in the Southern and Indian Oceans off Australia from 2002 to 2016 have regularly captured a tonal signal of about 10 s duration at 22-28 Hz with a symmetrical bell-shaped envelope. The sound is often accompanied by short, higher frequency downsweeps and repeated at irregular intervals varying from 120 to 200 s. It is termed the "spot" call according to its appearance in spectrograms of long-time averaging. Although similar to the first part of an Antarctic blue whale Z-call, evidence suggests the call is produced by another great whale, with the source as yet not identified.

Sound radiation from impact-driven raked piles.

Sound emissions from impact pile driving of raked piles present a significant azimuthal dependence in the radiated sound field due to the non-axisymmetric orientation of the pile. In this work the sound radiation from raked piles is modeled using a finite element method (FEM) model of the pile and near-field region. The near-field model of the sound field is then used as input into a normal mode model to predict the sound radiation in the far-field. The azimuthal dependence of the radiated sound field is shown to be accurately predicted using an equivalent axisymmetric FEM model of the pile configuration, thus negating the need to construct a fully three-dimensional model (3D) of the raked pile. This is achieved by matching the radiated field from the equivalent axisymmetric pile model to a vertical array of phased point sources, and then horizontally offsetting the source locations to match the incline of the raked pile. The resulting sound field closely matches the numerical predictions from a fully 3D FEM model of the raked pile. The results of numerical modeling are compared to corresponding acoustic measurements taken on the North West shelf of Western Australia.

Empirical estimation of peak pressure level from sound exposure level. Part II: Offshore impact pile driving noise.

Numerical models of underwater sound propagation predict the energy of impulsive signals and its decay with range with a better accuracy than the peak pressure. A semi-empirical formula is suggested to predict the peak pressure of man-made impulsive signals based on numerical predictions of their energy. The approach discussed by Galindo-Romero, Lippert, and Gavrilov [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 138, in press (2015)] for airgun signals is modified to predict the peak pressure from offshore pile driving, which accounts for impact and pile parameters. It is shown that using the modified empirical formula provides more accurate predictions of the peak pressure than direct numerical simulations of the signal waveform.

Characteristics of sound propagation in shallow water over an elastic seabed with a thin cap-rock layer.

Measurements of low-frequency sound propagation over the areas of the Australian continental shelf, where the bottom sediments consist primarily of calcarenite, have revealed that acoustic transmission losses are generally much higher than those observed over other continental shelves and remain relatively low only in a few narrow frequency bands. This paper considers this phenomenon and provides a physical interpretation in terms of normal modes in shallow water over a layered elastic seabed with a shear wave speed comparable to but lower than the water-column sound speed. A theoretical analysis and numerical modeling show that, in such environments, low attenuation of underwater sound is expected only in narrow frequency bands just above the modal critical frequencies which in turn are governed primarily by the water depth and compressional wave speed in the seabed. In addition, the effect of a thin layer of harder cap-rock overlaying less consolidated sediments is considered. Low-frequency transmission loss data collected from an offshore seismic survey in Bass Strait on the southern Australian continental shelf are analyzed and shown to be in broad agreement with the numerical predictions based on the theoretical analysis and modeling using an elastic parabolic equation solution for range-dependent bathymetry.

Steady inter and intra-annual decrease in the vocalization frequency of Antarctic blue whales.

Time averaged narrow-band noise near 27 Hz produced by vocalizations of many distant Antarctic blue whales intensifies seasonally from early February to late October in the ocean off Australia's South West. Spectral characteristics of long term patterns in this noise band were analyzed using ambient noise data collected at the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty hydroacoustic station off Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia over 2002-2010. Within 7 day averaged noise spectra derived from 4096-point FFT (∼0.06 Hz frequency resolution), the -3-dB width of the spectral peak from the upper tone of Antarctic blue whale vocalization was about 0.5 Hz. The spectral frequency peak of this tonal call was regularly but not gradually decreasing over the 9 years of observation from ∼27.7 Hz in 2002 to ∼26.6 Hz in 2010. The average frequency peak steadily decreased at a greater rate within a season at 0.4-0.5 Hz/season but then in the next year recovered to approximately the mean value of the previous season. A regression analysis showed that the interannual decrease rate of the peak frequency of the upper tonal call was 0.135 ± 0.003 Hz/year over 2002-2010 (R(2) ≈ 0.99). Possible causes of such a decline in the whale vocalization frequency are considered.

Vocal characteristics of pygmy blue whales and their change over time.

Vocal characteristics of pygmy blue whales of the eastern Indian Ocean population were analyzed using data from a hydroacoustic station deployed off Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia as part of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty monitoring network, from two acoustic observatories of the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System, and from individual sea noise loggers deployed in the Perth Canyon. These data have been collected from 2002 to 2010, inclusively. It is shown that the themes of pygmy blue whale songs consist of ether three or two repeating tonal sounds with harmonics. The most intense sound of the tonal theme was estimated to correspond to a source level of 179 ± 2 dB re 1 µPa at 1 m measured for 120 calls from seven different animals. Short-duration calls of impulsive downswept sound from pygmy blue whales were weaker with the source level estimated to vary between 168 to 176 dB. A gradual decrease in the call frequency with a mean rate estimated to be 0.35 ± 0.3 Hz/year was observed over nine years in the frequency of the third harmonic of tonal sound 2 in the whale song theme, which corresponds to a negative trend of about 0.12 Hz/year in the call fundamental frequency.