Aarhus Universitets segl

No. 204: Continuous underwater noise in Danish Waters 2019-20

Griffiths, E.T. and Tougaard, J. 2021. Continuous underwater noise in Danish Waters 2019-20. Marine strategy framework directive criterion D11C2/HELCOM pre-core indicator low-frequency continuous noise. Aarhus University, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, 52 pp. Technical Report No. 204 http://dce2.au.dk/pub/TR204.pdf

Summary

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) has a monitoring program for continuous underwater noise in the Danish marine waters. This monitoring program fulfils requirements regarding low-frequency underwater noise of the Marine Strategy (Havstrategien) and the HELCOM monitoring program. Underwater noise was measured on five monitoring stations in the North Sea, Kattegat and Danish Straits in 2019 and 2020, in continuation of previous years’ monitoring. Recordings show systematic differences in noise levels between recording stations, consistent with different levels of ship traffic, the main anthropogenic source of low-frequency noise. The time line of monitoring does not extend long enough to allow detection of possible trends in levels