title: Assessing the Effectiveness of Ramp-Up During Sonar Operations Using Exposure Models.
abstract: Ramp-up procedures are used to mitigate the impact of sound on marine mammals. Sound exposure models combined with observations of marine mammals responding to sound can be used to assess the effectiveness of ramp-up procedures. We found that ramp-up procedures before full-level sonar operations can reduce the risk of hearing threshold shifts with marine mammals, but their effectiveness depends strongly on the responsiveness of the animals. In this paper, we investigated the effect of sonar parameters (source level, pulse-repetition time, ship speed) on sound exposure by using a simple analytical model and highlight the mechanisms that limit the effectiveness of ramp-up procedures.
authors.affiliation: Acoustics and Sonar Group, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 96864, 2509 JG, The Hague, The Netherlands. sander.vonbenda@tno.nl.
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: von Benda-Beckmann
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB, UK. pw234@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wensveen
authors.affiliation: Maritime Systems Division, Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI), NO-3191, Horten, Norway. Petter-Helgevold.Kvadsheim@ffi.no.
authors.forename: Petter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Kvadsheim
authors.affiliation: Acoustics and Sonar Group, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 96864, 2509 JG, The Hague, The Netherlands. frans-peter.lam@tno.nl.
authors.forename: Frans-Peter A
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB, UK. pm29@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Patrick J O
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB, UK. plt@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Tyack
authors.affiliation: Acoustics and Sonar Group, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 96864, 2509 JG, The Hague, The Netherlands. michael.ainslie@tno.nl.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ainslie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013016:Sound
keywords: Killer whales; Mitigation; Ramp-up; Soft start; Sonar