Underwater Noise Effects on Marine Life Associated with Offshore Wind Farms

U.S. Offshore Wind Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research (SEER). 2022. Underwater Noise Effects on Marine Life Associated with Offshore Wind Farms. Report by National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, Wind Energy Technologies Office. Available at https://tethys.pnnl.gov/seer.

This Educational Research Brief summarizes the international and U.S. literature related to potential underwater sound impacts from offshore wind development on marine life, including marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, and invertebrates, with relevance to future development on the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts. While the risks and effects from impact pile driving during wind farm construction are given special attention, additional types of noise from other phases of the wind farm life cycle (e.g., site surveys, operations, and decommissioning) are also considered.

Underwater Noise Effects on Marine Life Associated with Offshore Wind Farms

View a Spanish translation of all SEER Educational Research Briefs here.

The Brief was reviewed by external subject matter experts (Rebecca Faulkner, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science; Dr. James Miller, University of Rhode Island) and the SEER Science and Technical (S&T) Advisory Committee. These subject matter experts also participated in a panel discussion during the SEER Webinar on Underwater Noise and Entanglement Consideration for Offshore Wind Farms.

The table below contains the literature relevant to this summary document.

Title	Author	Date Sort ascending	Content Type	Technology	Stressor	Receptor
Short-Term Disturbance by a Commercial Two-Dimensional Seismic Survey does Not Lead to Long-Term Displacement of Harbour Porpoises	Thompson, P., Brookes, K., Graham, I., Barton, T., Needham, K., Bradbury, G., Merchant, N.	November 2013	Journal Article	Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind	Displacement, Noise	Marine Mammals, Cetaceans
Effects of an Offshore Wind Farm on Temporal and Spatial Patterns in the Demersal Fish Community	Bergström, L., Sundqvist, F., Bergström, U.	June 2013	Journal Article	Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind	Habitat Change	Fish, Demersal Fish
The Effects Of Anthropogenic Sources Of Sound On Fishes	Popper, A., Hastings, M.	January 2009	Journal Article	Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind	Noise	Fish
The Effects of Human-Generated Sound on Fish	Popper, A., Hastings, M.	January 2009	Journal Article	Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Marine Energy	Noise	Fish
Investigations of the Bird Collision Risk and the Responses of Harbour Porpoises in the Offshore Wind Farms Horns Rev, North Sea, and Nysted, Baltic Sea, in Denmark - Part II: Harbour porpoises	Diederichs,A., Hennig, V., Nehls, G.	January 2008	Report	Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind	Attraction, Avoidance, Collision, Displacement, Noise	Birds, Marine Mammals
Hearing in Fish and their Reactions to Sounds from Offshore Wind Farms	Wahlberg, M., Westerberg, H.	March 2005	Journal Article	Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind	Noise	Fish