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Source Levels for Natural and Anthropogenic Sounds
(Note: All source levels are in dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)



Natural Physical Processes:

Source
Broadband Source Level
(dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)
Reference
Lightning Strike on Water Surface ~260Hill, 1985
Seafloor Volcanic Eruption ~255Dietz and Sheehy, 1954
Northrop, 1974




Marine Life:

Source
Broadband Source Level
(dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)
Reference
Sperm Whale Clicks 163 - 223Levenson, 1974
Watkins, 1980
Møhl et al., 2000
Beluga Whale Echolocation Click 206-225
(peak-to-peak)		Au, 1993
White-beaked Dolphin Echolocation Clicks 194-219
(peak-to-peak)		Rasmussen et al., 2002
Spinner Dolphin Pulse Bursts 108-115Watkins and Schevill, 1974
Norris et al., 1994
Bottlenose Dolphin Whistles 125-173Richardson et al., 1995
Fin Whale Moans 155 - 186Watkins, 1981
Edds, 1988
Watkins et al., 1987
Cummings & Thompson, 1994
Blue Whale Moans 155 - 188Aroyan et al., 2000
Cummings and Thompson, 1971, 1994
Edds, 1982
Stafford et al., 1994
Gray Whale Moans 142 - 185Cummings et al., 1968
Fish et al., 1974
Swartz and Cummings, 1978
Bowhead Whale Tonals, Moans and Song 128 - 189Ljungblad et al., 1982
Cummings and Holliday, 1987
Würsig and Clark, 1993
Humpback Whale Song 144 - 174Thompson et al., 1979
Payne and Payne, 1985
Frankel, 1994
Humpback Whale Fluke and Flipper Slap 183 - 192Thompson et al., 1986
Southern Right Whale Pulsive Call 172 - 187Cummings et al., 1972
Clark, 1982, 1983
Snapping Shrimp 183 - 189
(peak-to-peak)		Au and Banks, 1998




Anthropogenic Sounds:

Ships Underway
Broadband Source Level
(dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)
Reference
Tug and Barge (18 km/hour) 171Richardson et al., 1995
Supply Ship (Kigoriak) 181Richardson et al., 1995
Large Tanker 186Richardson et al., 1995
Icebreaking 193Richardson et al., 1995


Seismic Survey
Broadband Source Level
(dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)
Reference
Airgun array (32 guns) 259 (peak)Richardson et al., 1995


Military Sonars
Broadband Source Level
(dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)
Reference
AN/SQS-53C
(U. S. Navy tactical mid-frequency sonar, center frequencies 2.6 and 3.3 kHz)		 235NOAA/NMFS and U. S. Navy, 2001
AN/SQS-56
(U. S. Navy tactical mid-frequency sonar, center frequencies 6.8 to 8.2 kHz)		 223NOAA/NMFS and U. S. Navy, 2001
SURTASS-LFA (100-500 Hz) 215 dB for a single projector, with up to 18 projectors operating simultaneously in a vertical arrayU. S. Navy, 2001


Ocean Acoustic Studies
Broadband Source Level
(dB re 1 µPa at 1 m)
Reference
Heard Island Feasibility Test (HIFT)
(Center frequency 57 Hz)		 206 dB for a single projector, with up to 5 projectors operating simultaneously in a vertical arrayMunk et al., 1994
Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC)/North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory (NPAL) (Center frequency 75 Hz) 195Richardson et al., 1995



    Full References:
  • Aroyan, J.L., McDonald, M.A., Webb, S.C., Hildebrand, J.A., Clark, D., Laitman, J.F. and Reidenberg, J.S. 2000. Acoustic models of sound production and propagation. In: Au, W.W.L., Popper, A.N. and Fay, R.R. (eds). Hearing by Whales and Dolphins. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY.
  • Au, W.W.L. 1993. The Sonar of Dolphins. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, 277 pp.
  • Au, W.W.L. and Banks, K. 1998. The acoustics of the snapping shrimp Synalpheus parneomeris in Kaneohe Bay. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 103(1): 41-47.
  • Clark, C.W. 1982. The acoustic repertoire of the southern right whale, a quantitative analysis. Anim. Behav. 30(4): 1060-1071.
  • Clark, C.W. 1983. Acoustic communication and behavior of the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis). In: Payne, R. (ed). Communication and Behavior of Whales. AAAS Sel. Stmp. 76. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
  • Cummings, W.C. and Holliday, D.V. 1987. Sounds and source levels from bowhead whales off Pt. Barrow, Alaska. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 82(3): 814-821.
  • Cummings, W.C. and Thompson, P.O. 1971. Underwater sounds from blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 50(4, Pt. 2): 1193-1198.
  • Cummings, W.C. and Thompson, P.M. 1994. Characteristics and seasons of blue and finback whale sounds along the U.S. west coast as recorded by SOSUS stations. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 95(5 Pt. 2): 2853.
  • Cummings, W.C., Fish, J.F., and Thompson, P.O. 1972. Sound production and other behavior of southern right whales, Eubalena (sic) glacialis. Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist. 17(1): 1-13.
  • Cummings, W.C., Thompson, P.O. and Cook, R. 1968. Underwater sounds of migrating gray whales, Eschrichtius glaucus (Cope). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 44(5): 1278-1281.
  • Dietz, R.S. and Sheehy, M.J. 1954. Transpacific detection of myojin volcanic explosions by underwater sound. Bulletin of the Geological Society 2: 942-956.
  • Edds, P.L. 1982. Vocalizations of the blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, in the St. Lawrence River. J. Mammal 63: 345-347.
  • Edds, P.L. 1988. Characteristics of finback Balaenoptera physalus vocalizations in the St. Lawrence Estuary. Bioacoustics 1: 131-149.
  • Fish, J.F., Sumich, J.L. and Lingle, G.L. 1974. Sounds produced by the gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus. Marine Fisheries Review 36(4): 38-45.
  • Frankel, A.S. 1994. Acoustic and visual tracking reveals distribution, song variability and social roles of humpback whales in Hawaiian waters. Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawaii.
  • Hill, R.D. 1985. Investigation of lightning strikes on water surface. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 78(6): 2096-2099.
  • Levenson, C. 1974. Source level and bistatic target strength of the sperm whale (Physeter catodon) measured from oceanographic aircraft. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 55(5): 1100-1103.
  • Ljungblad, D.K., Thompson, P.O. and Moore, S.E. 1982. Underwater sounds recorded from migrating bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, in 1979. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 71(2): 477-482.
  • Møhl, B., Wahlberg, M., Madsen, P.T., Miller, L.A. and Surlykke, A. 2000. Sperm whale clicks: Directionality and source level revisited. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 107(1): 638-648.
  • Munk, W.H., Spindel, R.C., Baggeroer, A. and Birdsall, T.G. 1994. The Heard Island Feasibility Test. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 96, 2330-2342.
  • NOAA/NMFS and U.S. Navy. 2001. Joint Interim Report Bahamas Marine Mammal Stranding Event of 15-16 March 2000, December 2001.
  • Norris, K.S., Wursig, B. and Wells, R.S. 1994. The Hawaiian spinner dolphin. Univeristy of California Press, Berkeley.
  • Northrup, J. 1974. Detection of low-frequency underwater sounds from a submarine volcano in the western Pacific. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 56(3): 837-841.
  • Payne, K. and Payne, R. 1985. Large-scale changes over 19 years in songs of humpback whales in Bermuda. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 68(2): 89-114.
  • Rasmussen, M.H., Miller, L.A. and Au, W.W.L. 2002. Source levels of clicks from free-ranging white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris Gray 1846) recorded in Icelandic waters. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 111(2): 1122-1125.
  • Richardson, W.J., Greene Jr., C.R., Malme, C.I. and Thomson, D.H. 1995. Marine Mammals and Noise. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
  • Stafford, K.M., Fox, C.G. and Mate, B.R. 1994. Acoustic detection and localization of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) from SOSUS data by matched filtering. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 96(5 Pt. 2): 3250-3251.
  • Swartz, S.L. and Cummings, W.C. 1978. Gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California, Mexico. MMC-77/04. Report from the San Diego Natural History Museum for the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. NTIS PB-276319.
  • Thompson T.J., Winn, H.E. and Perkins, P.J. 1979. Mysticete sounds. In: Winn, H.E. and B.L. Olla (eds.). Behavior of Marine Animals. Vol. 3. Cetaceans.
  • Thompson, P.O., Cummings, W.C. and Ha, S.J. 1986. Sounds, source levels, and associated behavior of humpback whales, Southeast Alaska. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 80(3): 735-740.
  • U.S. Navy. 2001. Final Overseas Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Statement for Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) Sonar, January 2001.
  • Watkins, W.A. 1980. Acoustics and the behavior of sperm whales. In: Busnel, R.G. and Fish, J.F. (eds). Animal Sonar Systems, pp. 283-290. Plenum Press, New York. 1125 pp.
  • Watkins, W.A. 1981. Activities and underwater sounds of fin whales. Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst. 33: 83-117.
  • Watkins, W.A. and Schevill, W.E. 1974. Listening to Hawaiian spinner porpoises, Stenella cf. longirostris, with a three-dimensional hydrophone array. Journal of Mammalogy 55(2): 319-328.
  • Watkins, W.A., Moore, K.E. and Bird, J.E. 1987. The 20-Hz signals of finback whales (Balaenoptera physalus). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 82(6): 1901-1912.
  • Würsig, B. and Clark, C.W. 1993. Behavior. In: Burns, J.J., Montague, J.J. and Cowles, C.J. (eds). The Bowhead Whale. Society of Marine Mammalogy.
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