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What is the source level of pile-driving noise in water?

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journal contribution
posted on 2012-03-22, 14:13 authored by Paul LepperPaul Lepper, Christ A.F. de Jong, Stephen P. Robinson, Michael A. Ainslie
To meet the growing demand for carbon-free energy sources, the European Union (EU) has ambitious plans to increase its capacity for generation of offshore wind power. The United Kingdom and The Netherlands, for example, plan to increase their offshore power-generating capacity to 33 and 6 GW, respectively, by the year 2020. Assuming that this power is generated entirely by wind and that a single wind turbine can generate up to 10 MW, at least 3,900 offshore turbines would be required by these two states alone to achieve this goal. A popular turbine construction method known as “pile driving” involves the use of hammering a steel cylinder (a “monopile”) into the seabed. A concern has arisen for the possible effect on mammals (Southall et al. 2007) and fish (Popper and Hastings 2009) of the sound produced by the succession of hammer impacts required to sink the pile to its required depth (tens of meters).

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Citation

LEPPER, P.A. ... et al., 2012. What is the source level of pile-driving noise in water? IN: Popper, A.N and Hopkins, A. (eds). The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 730 (VII), pp. 445 - 448

Publisher

© Springer Science+Business Media

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2012

Notes

This article was published in the journal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology [© Springer]. The definitive version is available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/kl8v22033073051t/

ISBN

9781441973108

ISSN

0065-2598

Language

  • en

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