Classification of Noise Sources for Port Area Noise Mapping

Characterizing the underwater soundscape at the site of a proposed port in northeast Iceland

Finnafjörður is a small fjord in northeast Iceland, where the planned construction of a large port has the potential to meaningfully change the marine soundscape and ecosystem. In this study, we used one year (2021/22) of passive acoustic recordings to characterize the pre-construction soundscape, including broadband and decidecade sound pressure levels (SPL), frequency-weighted sound exposure levels, seasonal and diel variability and identified regular types of sound. Finnafjörður is relatively quiet with median decidecade levels centered between 25 Hz and 50 kHz of 74.5 to 86.3 dB re 1 μPa. Wind and rain dominate ambient SPL, while anthropogenic sources only occasionally contributed to the soundscape. Regular biological sound sources include humpback whales, toothed whales, and fish. This baseline soundscape description can be used for noise management during port construction, to monitor future changes in the region, and to act as a framework for comprehensive impact assessments as ports are developed globally.

Pathways to protect marine biodiversity: Could Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) be benefited by landscape ecology?

The marine environment faces multiple threats, many of which are still undiscovered. Anthropogenic noise is considered a representative indicator of the human footprint. The aim of this short communication is to protect marine biodiversity by exploiting basic principles of Landscape and Soundscape Ecology and borrowing methods and tools to identify and map the human induced noise of the marine environment and thus create, based on this information layer, a connectivity pathway among all Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Today it is of vital importance to take urgent action towards protecting the marine environment. Could we be inspired by effective and practical solutions of biodiversity conservation, already successfully implemented in the terrestrial environment, taking into account the special and diverse characteristics of the marine environment to protect marine biodiversity?

Experimental investigation on composites incorporating rice husk nanoparticles for environmental noise management

Environmental noise characteristics are determined by factors besides its source. One such factor is reverberation time, which in city canyons tends to be high due to the reflective characteristics of materials commonly used in building facades. Incorporating sound absorbing materials into building facades can help improve urban environments. This research evaluates different facade materials (concrete mix, mortar mix, vinyl spackling, and epoxy resin) incorporated with rice husk nanoparticles (NPs). Rice husk, in addition to presenting good properties for acoustic absorption, is one of the main agricultural wastes worldwide. Additionally, the characteristic of rice husk nanoparticles is correlated with milling time (longer grinding times enhance production of rice husk NPs). Sound absorption coefficients levels increase for compounds with a greater amount of rice husk NPs.

New Indicators for the Assessment and Prevention of Noise Nuisance

At present, health effects induced by prolonged noise exposure are widely studied to determine the most spread noise sources and their effects [...]

Airborne Sound Power Levels and Spectra of Noise Sources in Port Areas

Airborne port noise has historically suffered from a lack of regulatory assessment compared to other transport infrastructures. This has led to several complaints from citizens living in the urban areas surrounding ports, which is a very common situation, especially in countries facing the Mediterranean sea. Only in relatively recent years has an effort been made to improve this situation, which has resulted in a call for and financing of numerous international cooperation research projects, within the framework of programs such as EU FP7, H2020, ENPI-CBC MED, LIFE, and INTERREG. These projects dealt with issues and aspects of port noise, which is an intrinsically tangled problem, since several authorities and companies operate within the borders of ports, and several different noise sources are present at the same time. In addition, ship classification societies have recently recognized the problem and nowadays are developing procedures and voluntary notations to assess the airborne noise emission from marine vessels. The present work summarizes the recent results of research regarding port noise sources in order to provide a comprehensive database of sources that can be easily used, for example, as an input to the noise mapping phase, and can subsequently prevent citizens' exposure to noise.

Source characterization guidelines for noise mapping of port areas

Maritime transport for both passengers and freight is continuously increasing and, consequently, the global attention toward its sustainability is growing. Ships offer advantages in terms of environmental impact compared to other transportation systems but the increasing traffic volume is expected to increase pollutants. Noise produced in port areas has been neglected for too long, until the INTERREG Maritime programme Italy-France 2014–2020 has brought to light how citizen complaints are emerging for some of the main ports in the Mediterranean. However, port noise prevention and management is difficult as knowledge on specific sources is very limited in the literature. Furthermore, on field measurements are difficult to be performed given the complexity of the port area, where multiple types of sound emitters mix and confuse each other.

Noise maps represent the first important step in order to align ports to the requirements set by the Environmental Noise Directive to the transportation infrastructures. Once computed, they are an excellent tool supporting port management towards the reduction of citizens’ noise exposure while ensuring traffic growth.

The present paper reports a guideline for the characterization of noise sources needed as inputs for the noise maps, as developed in the framework of the INTERREG Maritime programme Italy-France 2014–2020. On the basis of the current state of the art, a procedure has been elaborated for different categories of noise sources acting in port, ranging from stationary to moving ships, from mooring operations to loading/unloading operations, from industrial activities to road and railway traffic.

How can ports act to reduce underwater noise from shipping? Identifying effective management frameworks

This paper aims to find mechanisms to align commercial interests with underwater noise reductions from commercial shipping. Through a survey and a series of interviews with representative stakeholders, we find that while acknowledging the wide variations in ports' specificities, port actions could support the reduction in underwater noise emissions from commercial shipping through changes in hull, propeller and engine design, and through operational measures associated with reduced speed, change of route and travel in convoy. Though the impact of underwater noise emissions on marine fauna is increasingly shown to be serious and wide-spread, there is uncertainty in the mechanisms, the contexts, and the levels which should lead to action, requiring precautionary management. Vessels owners are already dealing with significant investment and operating costs to comply with fuel, ballast water, NOx and CO2 requirements. To be successful, underwater noise programs should align with these factors. Based on a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, we find a set of compromise solutions for a wide range of stakeholders. Ports could propose actions such as discounted port fees and reduced ship waiting times at ports, both depending on underwater noise performance. Cooperation between ports to scale up actions through environmental indexes and classification societies' notations, and integration with other ports' actions could help support this. However, few vessels know their underwater noise baseline as there are very few hydrophone stations, and measurement methodologies are not standardized. Costs increase and availability decreases dramatically if the vessel buyer wants to improve the noise profile. Local demands regarding airborne noise close to airports boosted global pressure on the aviation industry to adopt existing quieting technology. This experience of the aviation noise control could inform the underwater noise process.

Effects of Exposure to Road, Railway, Airport and Recreational Noise on Blood Pressure and Hypertension

Noise is one of the most diffused environmental stressors affecting modern life. As such, the scientific community is committed to studying the main emission and transmission mechanisms aiming at reducing citizens' exposure, but is also actively studying the effects that noise has on health. However, scientific literature lacks data on multiple sources of noise and cardiovascular outcomes. The present cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the impact that different types of noise source (road, railway, airport and recreational) in an urban context have on blood pressure variations and hypertension. 517 citizens of Pisa, Italy, were subjected to a structured questionnaire and five measures of blood pressure in one day. Participants were living in the same building for at least 5 years, were aged from 37 to 72 years old and were exposed to one or more noise sources among air traffic, road traffic, railway and recreational noise. Logistic and multivariate linear regression models have been applied in order to assess the association between exposures and health outcomes. The analyses showed that prevalence of high levels of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is consistent with an increase of 5 dB (A) of night-time noise (β = 0.50 95% CI: 0.18-0.81). Furthermore, increased DBP is also positively associated with more noise sensitive subjects, older than 65 years old, without domestic noise protection, or who never close windows. Among the various noise sources, railway noise was found to be the most associated with DBP (β = 0.68; 95% CI: -1.36, 2.72). The obtained relation between DBP and night-time noise levels reinforces current knowledge.

Preparation of Industrial Noise Mapping and Improvement of Environmental Quality

Environmental noise control is necessary for human health and auditory comfort conditions. In this respect, it is required that industrial noise should be kept under control and healthy living spaces should be obtained in residential areas. This paper aims to explain industrial noise control at urban and building scales. In this study, the strategic noise mapping process related to industrial activities in a line with the Environmental Noise Directive (END) was clarified. Besides this, what type of factors are effective in the industrial noise mapping process were defined, and important basic parameters, which are essential in the industrial noise mapping, were detailed. The preparation of the industrial noise mapping process was explained in detail. It was mentioned that the regions exposed to excessive noise should be defined according to the strategic noise map and improvement plans should be performed. Improvement methods that reduce excessive noise in living spaces are clarified and it was explained how the improvement of environmental quality can be acquired. In this regard, this paper gives information on industrial noise mapping and industrial noise control at the urban scale.