UK Marine Noise Registry: 2015 Underwater Impulsive Noise Events

Maps from the UK Marine Noise Registry display the distribution and duration of impulsive underwater noise events across UK marine waters for the calendar year 2015. Data is aggregated into pulse block days (PBD) within blocks defined by the UK oil and gas licensing grid. This publication was produced by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and includes caveats for interpretation.

Use Cases

• Mapping spatial distribution of underwater noise pollution based on pulse block day data.
• Analyzing the contribution of different activity types to impulsive noise events as described in the registry.
• Assessing cumulative noise exposure in marine habitats based on event duration and frequency.
• Supporting marine spatial planning and environmental impact assessments using the UK oil and gas grid framework.

Strengths

• Data is spatially referenced to the standardized UK oil and gas licensing grid.
• Covers a full calendar year (2015) for temporal analysis.
• Includes documented caveats for proper interpretation of the maps.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the 2015 reporting year and UK jurisdiction.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Collection Method

Data collated by the UK Marine Noise Registry (MNR).

Time Range

Calendar year beginning January 1st, 2015.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:47:57.826327; freshness should be verified.

Geography

UK marine waters (UK Exclusive Economic Zone).