Anthropogenic ocean noise and cetaceans: measurements and impacts

An invisible but devastating pollution

Military sonars at 220 dB, seismic surveys at 250 dB, shipping traffic everywhere: anthropogenic noise in the ocean has doubled every 10 years since 1950. This database presents the sources, the measured levels and the documented impacts on cetaceans.

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Noise is one of the great invisible threats: pathologies (sonar-related embolism), acoustic profiles, strandings and acoustic monitoring.

Underwater noise pollution: sources and levels

Anthropogenic underwater noise has doubled every ten years since the 1960s. Three main sources dominate: shipping traffic (low frequencies, ~190 dB re 1 µPa as a container ship passes), petroleum seismic surveys (airguns, up to 260 dB) and active military sonars, implicated in several mass strandings of Ziphius cavirostris.

For cetaceans, the impact is measured in temporary hearing loss (TTS) or permanent hearing loss (PTS), in chronic stress and in acoustic masking of songs. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires the European Union to assess good environmental status under “descriptor 11, noise”. Initiatives such as the Quiet Ocean Experiment and the voluntary slowing of vessels (the ECHO programme in Vancouver) seek to reverse the trend.