A seaway acoustic observatory in action: The st. lawrence seaway

Abstract

A setup for measuring spectral source levels (SSLs) of ships transiting along a seaway, the traffic density and shipping noise, is presented. The results feed shipping-noise modeling that reproduces the actual in situ observations to map shipping- noise variability over space and time for investigating its effects on aquatic organisms. The ship’s SSL databank allows sorting the different contributors to total shipping noise for assisting in exploring mitigation approaches (e.g., fleet composition, rerouting). Such an acoustic observatory was deployed since November 2012 for a complete annual cycle of measurements in the deep downstream part of the St. Lawrence Seaway.