Baltic Sea Ship Underwater Noise Emissions Model for 2015

Modelled underwater noise emissions from commercial shipping in the Baltic Sea region for the full year 2015. It was created by Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen by combining the Wittekind noise source model with the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM). The methodology identifies container ships as the most significant source of underwater noise.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial and temporal patterns of underwater noise emissions from commercial shipping in the Baltic Sea.
• Model the contribution of container ships to total underwater noise emissions using the Wittekind noise source model.
• Assess the potential future increase in underwater noise emissions based on ship activity data from the STEAM model.
• Construct noise source maps for the Baltic Sea region using parameters derived from AIS data and ship technical characteristics.

Strengths

• Covers a full year of ship activity data for 2015.
• Focuses on the specific and well-defined Baltic Sea region.
• Integrates two established models: the Wittekind noise source model and the STEAM model.
• Released under the permissive CC0 1.0 public domain license.

Limitations

• The dataset is modelled, not directly measured, introducing potential inaccuracies from model assumptions.
• Key parameters for propeller cavitation are not easily recovered for the global fleet, which may limit model completeness.
• Data is from 2015 and may not reflect current shipping activity or noise levels.

Provenance

Source

Dryad digital repository.

Collection Method

Modelled by combining the Wittekind noise source model with the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM) using Baltic Sea ship activity data.

Time Range

Full year 2015.

Freshness

Last updated in June 2020.

Geography

Baltic Sea region.