OCS Study BOEM 2019-029 Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Data Analyses for the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Renewable Energy Programs OCS Study BOEM 2019-029 Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Data Analyses for the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island May 2019 Authors (in alphabetical order): Jennifer L. Amaral Adam S. Frankel Anwar A. Khan Ying-Tsong Lin James H. Miller Arthur E. Newhall Gopu R. Potty Kathleen J. Vigness-Raposa Prepared under BOEM Award Contract No. M15PC00002, Task Order No. M16PD00025 By HDR 9781 S Meridian Boulevard, Suite 400 Englewood, CO 80112 U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Renewable Energy Programs DISCLAIMER Study concept, oversight, and funding were provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Environmental Studies Program, Washington, DC, under Contract Number M15PC00002, Task Order No. M16PD00025. This report has been technically reviewed by BOEM, and it has been approved for publication. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. government, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. REPORT AVAILABILITY To download a PDF file of this report, go to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Data and Information Systems webpage (http://www.boem.gov/Environmental- Studies-EnvData/), click on the link for the Environmental Studies Program Information System (ESPIS), and search on 2019-029. The report is also available at the National Technical Reports Library at https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/. CITATION HDR. 2019. Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Data Analyses for the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island. Final Report to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs. OCS Study BOEM 2019-029. 110 pp. ABOUT THE COVER Cover photo: Block Island Wind Farm Facility Construction and Environmental Monitoring. Courtesy of HDR RODEO Team. Used with permission. All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The HDR RODEO Team includes the following subcontractors (in alphabetical order): Arthur Popper, Ph.D. Clark Group, LLC EA Engineering Science & Technology, Inc. Fugro Marine GeoServices, Inc. Fugro GB Marine Ltd. H.T. Harvey & Associates Loughine Limited Subacoustech Environmental. Significant additional technical support for the monitoring effort was provided by the following institutions: Marine Acoustics, Inc. University of Rhode Island Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Blue Land Media. Vessel services for visual monitoring were provided by Hula Charters. Assistance and support from all team members is greatly appreciated. Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................. vii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ..................................................................................................... viii Editorial Notes ............................................................................................................................................ ix Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 The RODEO Program ................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 The Block Island Wind Farm ......................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Underwater Acoustic Monitoring and Data Analyses ................................................................. 10 1.4 Report Organization .................................................................................................................... 11 2 Pile Driving ........................................................................................................................................ 12 2.1 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................ 15 2.2 Data Analysis Methods ............................................................................................................... 17 2.2.1 Range Determination ........................................................................................................... 17 2.2.2 Pile and Towed Array Orientation ........................................................................................ 17 2.2.3 Underwater Mach Wave Generated from Pile Driving ......................................................... 18 2.2.4 Acoustic Analysis ................................................................................................................. 19 2.2.5 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................................ 21 2.3 Results ........................................................................................................................................ 24 2.3.1 Pile Driving Sound ................................................................................................................ 24 2.3.2 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................................ 27 2.4 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 28 3 Particle Velocity ................................................................................................................................ 29 3.1 Literature Review Results ........................................................................................................... 29 3.1.1 Effect of Sound Pressure and Particle Motion on Fish Hearing ........................................... 31 3.2 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................ 32 3.3 Results ........................................................................................................................................ 33 3.3.1 Modeling of interface wave motion ....................................................................................... 41 3.4 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 42 4 3-D Underwater Sound Propagation Modeling .............................................................................. 42 4.1 Underwater acoustic propagation modeling using the 3-D Parabolic Equation Model .............. 43 4.2 Model Description and Validation ............................................................................................... 43 4.3 Underwater Sound Propagation Analyses .................................................................................. 47 4.4 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 52 5 Marine Mammal Detection ................................................................................................................ 53 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 53 i 5.2 Background ................................................................................................................................. 53 5.3 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................ 55 5.4 Detections ................................................................................................................................... 56 5.5 Modal Dispersion ........................................................................................................................ 58 5.6 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 61 6 References ......................................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix A: Pile-Driving Data Analyses Technical Report .................................................................. 65 ii List of Figures Figure 1. The BIWF project area. .......................................................................................................... 5 Figure 2. Schematic of the lattice jacket foundation structure showing the raked piles. ..................... 13 Figure 3. BIWF Phase 1 Construction Pile Driving. Top panel: Piles inserted in jacket prior to start of pile driving. Lower panel: Pile driving in progress. ................................................... 14 Figure 4. Towed array track lines for the three piling events. Wind turbine locations are indicated by black