The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

The oil and gas industry has established an E&P Sound and Marine life Joint Industry Programme.  This JIP has produced the following research studies, which are arranged by subject matter:

1) SOUND SOURCE CHARACTERIZATION PROPAGATION

• REVIEW OF EXISTING DATA ON UNDERWATER SOUNDS BY THE E&P
  • Review of Existing Data on Underwater Sounds Produced by the Oil and Gas Industry

• SOUND ATTENUATION (NOISE CONTROL) – INITIAL WORKSHOP AND REVIEW
  • Sound attenuation (noise control) – initial workshop and review

• ALTERNATIVE SOURCES
  • Environmental assessment of marine vibroseis

• BROADBAND AIRGUN STUDY
  • Broadband airgun study final report

2) PHYSICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL & HEARING EFFECTS OF SOUND

• ASSESSING THE HEARING ABILITIES OF MYSTICETE WHALES
  • Assessing the hearing capabilities of mysticete whales: A proposed research strategy

• BLOOD NITROGEN UPTAKE AND DISTRIBUTION DURING DIVING IN BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS
  • Blood nitrogen uptake & distribution during diving in Bottlenose dolphins

• MODELLING MYSTICETE (BALEEN WHALE) HEARING
  • Modelling Minke whale hearing

• TISSUE INJURY WORKSHOP AND FISH TISSUE INJURY MODELING STUDY – “A MODEL FOR PREDICTION OF AUDITORY TISSUE DAMAGE IN FISH”
  • A model for prediction of auditory tissue damage in fish

• HEARING CAPABILITIES OF LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLES (CARETTA CARETTA) THROUGHOUT ONTOGENY: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH INVOLVING BEHAVIOURAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES
  • Hearing capabilities of Loggerhead sea turtles throughout ontogeny

3) BEHAVIOURAL REACTIONS & BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

• PROJECTS RELATED TO THE POPULATION CONSEQUENCES OF ACOUSTIC DISTURBANCE (PCAD) MODEL B
  • Critical Review of the Literature on Marine Mammal Population Modelling
  • Relating behaviour and life functions to populations level effects in marine mammals: An empirical and modeling effort to develop the PCAD model
  • A conceptual framework for tiered risk assessment to evaluate the effects of sound from E&P operations on marine mammals

• CETACEAN STOCK ASSESSMENT IN RELATION TO EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION INDUSTRY SOUND
  • Cetacean stock assessment in relation to exploration and production industry sound: current knowledge and data needs – CEFAS
  • Cetacean stock assessment in relation to exploration and production industry sound – LGL

• APPLICATION OF RISK ASSESSMENT
  • Testing of potential alerting sound playbacks to sperm whales

4) MITIGATION & MONITORING

• DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACTIVE SOURCE FOR DETECTING WHALES IN AIRGUN SAFETY ZONES
  • Evaluation of fisheries sonars for whale detection in relation to seismic survey operations

• PAM: PAMGUARD III AND IV SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND PAMGUARD INDUSTRY FIELD TRIAL 2008
  • PAMGuard industry field trial 2008
  • PAMGuard CODA field trial final report
  • Mitigation & monitoring: Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) software development- detection, classification and localistation capabilities
  • Development and Implementation of Automatic Classification of Odontocetes within PAMGuard

• PAM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FOR PAMGUARD
  • PAMGuard: An overview and gentle introduction
  • PAMGuardIV: Final Report from SMRU Ltd

• PAM: INTEGRATION AND TESTING OF AN ACOUSTIC VECTOR SENSOR INTO 3-D TRACKING PAM ARRAY TO RESOLVE LEFT-RIGHT AMBIGUITIES
  • On the use of an acoustic vector sensor to resolve port/starboard ambiguities of marine mammal detections on a passive acoustic towed array

• A REVIEW AND INVENTORY OF FIXED INSTALLATION PASSIVE ACOUSTIC MONITORING METHODS AND TECHNOLOGIES
  • A review and inventory of fixed installation Passive Acoustic Monitoring methods and technologies (revised with appendix 26 May 2010)
  • Fixed passive acoustic marine mammal monitoring for estimating species abundance and mitigating the effect of operations on the marine environment

• DENSITY ESTIMATION FOR CETACEANS FROM PASSIVE ACOUSTIC FIXED SENSORS (DECAF)
  • Density estimation for cetaceans from passive acoustic fixed sensors (DECAF)

5) RESEARCH TOOLS

• ANIMAL TAGGING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT – WORKSHOP
  • Workshop on technology requirements to investigate the effects of sound on marine wildlife – Proceedings

• ANIMAL TAGGING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT – TESTING OF DEVELOPED GPS/TIME-DEPTH TAGS ON SPERM WHALES IN THE SEA OF CORTEZ (2007 AND 2008 PHASES)
  • GPS/TDR Satellite Tracking of Sperm Whales with 3-axis Accelerometers – Background
  • GPS/TDR Satellite Tracking of Sperm Whales with 3-axis Accelerometers

• UNMANNED AERIAL SURVEY (UAS) REVIEW
  • A review and inventory of unmanned aerial systems

6) OTHER STUDIES

• ASA Working Group on the Effects of Sound on Fish and Turtles
• Bioacoustics: The International Journal of Animal Sound and its Recording, 2008, Vol 17. Parts 1-11
• Bioacoustics: The International Journal of Animal Sound and its Recording, 2008, Vol 17. Parts 8-11
• Marine Mammal Recording F

Click here to access the JIP research studies website.