Humans undertake many activities in the marine environment, recreationally, commercially and industrially. Underwater sounds are produced by ships and boats, by fishing activities, by gas, oil and renewable energy acquisition, and even on a small scale when we swim and go scuba diving (see Figure 1).
The construction of offshore platforms, such as for oil and gas, is particularly noisy. In order to build a platform at sea (e.g. to support a wind turbine) the platform must be anchored to the seabed. One way to do this is to hammer long cylindrical piles – often tens of metres wide – into the seabed. Each hammer blow produces a sound in the water column and vibration in the seabed. Construction events may take weeks or months.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
