An adaptive grid to improve the efficiency and accuracy of shipping noise modelling

Abstract

Underwater noise from shipping is a potential stressor for marine animals and has been listed as a pollutant under Descriptor 11 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Noise modelling is an essential tool to assess noise levels for regulatory procedures such as environmental impact assessments and ship noise monitoring. Complex models (e.g. raytracing and PE models), which are based on an advanced physical representation of sound propagation, are essential for shipping noise modelling in dynamic shelf seas (Shapiro et al., 2014). However, these acoustic propagation models are computationally expensive for modelling noise fields originating from many ships over a large geographic area.