The mid-term meeting of the European BluEcho project, dedicated to the study of noise pollution in the marine environment, was held in Trieste. Co-funded by the European Union through the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership and coordinated by UniTS, BluEcho addresses issues ranging from numerical noise modelling to the impact on marine fauna, as well as economic models for defining mitigation strategies.

In addition to Italy, the international consortium involves partners from Sweden, Norway and Germany.

Summary of mid-term results 

A year and a half after its launch, the project has achieved significant results in the three main areas of research: numerical modelling, biological impacts and socio-economic analysis. 

In the field of numerical modelling of underwater noise, new source models based on CFD simulations have been developed and tested, with particular attention to the noise generated by cavitating propellers and marine turbines.

Acoustic modelling has so far focused on single sources, wind turbines or marine propellers, allowing for detailed analysis of the interaction between the various components and noise generation mechanisms. The next step will be to extend the analysis to the propagation of multiple sources, in order to more realistically represent the acoustic impact of entire offshore wind farms and shipping traffic.

In parallel, in the field of acoustic propagation modelling, comparative studies on different solvers have been launched and the first reference case studies have been defined, based on accurate collection of environmental and ‘source’ data (bathymetry, seabed characteristics, source types, etc.).

One of the main cases analysed concerns sound propagation in the Gulf of Trieste, chosen as a representative site for the validation of numerical models.

In addition, a measurement campaign was organised in the Bracciano lake, involving ISPRA, CNR and Hydra Ricerche. The data collected will be used to calibrate the acoustic maps and metrics used.

In the area dedicated to biological impacts, a review of the state of the art has been completed and a monitoring campaign has been carried out by the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) at two sites of particular interest: a floating wind farm (Hywind Tampen) and an area subject to intense shipping traffic (LoVe Ocean observatory).

Through the combined use of hydrophones and echosounders, it was possible to correlate environmental noise levels with the abundance and behaviour of different marine species, providing preliminary indications of the influence of anthropogenic noise on local ecosystems.

In the research area dedicated to economic modelling, a review of the most relevant methodologies for the assessment of ecosystem services and mitigation measures has been completed.

An international questionnaire and interviews with maritime stakeholders are being prepared to assess the costs, benefits and preferences associated with noise reduction policies.

Finally, with regard to data management, the infrastructure for standardisation, quality control and sharing of acoustic datasets via the OPUS platform has been implemented.