Development of a Model to Assess Masking Potential for Marine Mammals by the Use of Air Guns in Antarctic Waters

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016:875:1243-9. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_156.

Abstract

We estimated the long-range effects of air gun array noise on marine mammal communication ranges in the Southern Ocean. Air gun impulses are subject to significant distortion during propagation, potentially resulting in a quasi-continuous sound. Propagation modeling to estimate the received waveform was conducted. A leaky integrator was used as a hearing model to assess communication masking in three species due to intermittent/continuous air gun sounds. Air gun noise is most probably changing from impulse to continuous noise between 1,000 and 2,000 km from the source, leading to a reduced communication range for, e.g., blue and fin whales up to 2,000 km from the source.

Keywords: Mysticetes; Pinnipeds; Propagation modeling; Seismic.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antarctic Regions
  • Aquatic Organisms / physiology*
  • Fin Whale / physiology
  • Mammals / physiology*
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Perceptual Masking / physiology*
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Sound Spectrography
  • Water*

Substances

  • Water