Many years ago, the US Navy was planning on using long distance sonar with incomprehensible sound pressure levels. Something like 160 dB. Greenpeace and others tried to stop it, but I doubt they were successful.
Good question. I read one research article this morning https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/10.0002453 that found that wind noise from ONE turbine is typically 10-20 dB lower than ship noise at the same distance. However, the authors caution that because multiple turbines are now being installed, we still need to consider their noise footprint. I didn't dig into any of the details but my instinct is that shipping lanes would be far more destructive for it seems they must form a 1000s of miles long sound barrier that separates different sectors of the ocean, isolating different populations of sea animals.
Many years ago, the US Navy was planning on using long distance sonar with incomprehensible sound pressure levels. Something like 160 dB. Greenpeace and others tried to stop it, but I doubt they were successful.
Good question. I read one research article this morning https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/10.0002453 that found that wind noise from ONE turbine is typically 10-20 dB lower than ship noise at the same distance. However, the authors caution that because multiple turbines are now being installed, we still need to consider their noise footprint. I didn't dig into any of the details but my instinct is that shipping lanes would be far more destructive for it seems they must form a 1000s of miles long sound barrier that separates different sectors of the ocean, isolating different populations of sea animals.
I hate leaf blowers with a passion that borders on irrational
Interesting post Pru. Have you run across any research on how ocean wind farms affect the underwater noise level?