Evaluation of kurtosis-corrected sound exposure level as a metric for predicting onset of hearing threshold shifts in harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

Application of a kurtosis correction to frequency-weighted sound exposure level (SEL) improved predictions of risk of hearing damage in humans and terrestrial mammals for sound exposures with different degrees of impulsiveness. To assess whether kurtosis corrections may lead to improved predictions for marine mammals, corrections were applied to...

Regulatory Framework: Legal Challenges and Incentives for the Development of Hydrogen Infrastructure in Port Areas

In the ‘Government Strategy on Hydrogen’, the Dutch government has elaborated on the necessity to develop a clean hydrogen economy, on the role of hydrogen in the energy transition, and on its policy agenda in respect to the hydrogen market. The hydrogen strategy (and its policy agenda) is in line with the ambitious targets for zero-carbon...

Harbours: the heart of the energy transition: the role of Northern harbours in the provision of clean energy

Harbours will play a significant role in transmission of energy (both electricity and hydrogen) towards 2050. The extension of North Sea offshore wind capacity up to 2050 (38 to72 GW on the Netherlands’ continental shelve; and some 200 to 300 GW on the total North sea area will partly be unlocked via harbours (1), (2). The aim of this study is...

Development of a wideband underwater acoustic modulation providing quality-of-service support

There is a growing interest in the use of untethered underwater vehicles. These vehicles require robust and error-free underwater communication for transmission of mission-critical data. In contrast, the requirements for sensor payloads are often less stringent. Depending on the type of data, different Quality-ofService (QoS) demands can be...

Underwater noise measurements in the North Sea in and near the Princess Amalia Wind Farm in operation

Assessing the Impact of Underwater Clearance of Unexploded Ordnance on Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Southern North Sea

(UXO) are still present in the North Sea. UXO are frequently accidentally encountered by fishermen and dredging vessels. Out of concern for human safety and to avoid damage to equipment and infrastructure from uncontrolled explosions, most reported UXO found in the Dutch Continental Shelf (DCS) are detonated in a controlled way. These underwater...

Low-Frequency Synthetic Aperture Sonar For Detecting Explosives in Harbors

Naval mines and underwater improvised explosive devices in harbors can halt or block maritime transport, causing local disruptions that can impact national and regional economies considerably. Securing harbors against such threats is implemented in the Netherlands through cooperation between civil and military authorities. Existing commercial...

Recent Developments in SOBEK Passive Sonar Technology

Surveillance of waterside locations for protection against threats from small fast surface vessels and underwater intruders is a very relevant but challenging problem. For this reason, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) is developing SOBEK – a family of passive sonar technologies for waterside surveillance. The...

Passive acoustic detection of closed-circuit underwater breathing apparatus in an operational port environment

Divers constitute a potential threat to waterside infrastructures. Active diver detection sonars are available commercially but present some shortcomings, particularly in highly reverberant environments. This has led to research on passive sonar for diver detection. Passive detection of open-circuit UBA (underwater breathing apparatus) has been...

Change detection and maritime situation awareness in the Channel area: Feasibility of space borne SAR for maritime situation awareness

In this paper we have analyzed military and security requirements for surveillance. Using a data-set of wide swath SAR imagery for the English channel and high resolution SAR data for the Zeebrugge and Rotterdam harbour we have discussed if these requirements can be met by using this kind of data. The requirement to detect anomalous behaviour at...

Change detection and damage assessment based on the new generation radar satellites for G-MOSAIC pilot services

Within the GMES initiative, several projects focus on supporting the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Two of them are GMOSS (2004-2008) and, addressed in this paper, G-MOSAIC (2009-2011). GMOSS was the predecessor of G-MOSAIC. An important issue in GMOSS was to connect...

Change detection and damage assessment based on the new generation radar satellites for G-MOSAIC pilot services

Within the GMES initiative, several projects focus on supporting the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Two of them are GMOSS (2004-2008) and, addressed in this paper, GMOSAIC (2009-2011). GMOSS was the predecessor of G-MOSAIC. An important issue in GMOSS was to connect the...

Fuel consumption and associated emissions from seagoing ships at berth derived from an on-board survey

A methodology is presented to estimate the emissions of ships at berth based on their actual fuel consumption and the fuel quality. Accurate estimates of emissions from ships at berth demand reliable knowledge of the fuel consumption while at berth and associated fuel characteristics. However, assured information about energy use and fuel...

Experimental evaluation of a dedicated underwater loudhailer for diver warning

To improve port security capability there is a need for systems for detection, warning and deterrence of unwanted divers in harbour environments. In a complex environment such as a harbour, these topics present challenging problems and as such are subject to research and development. Already a few dedicated systems are commercially available,...

Experimental evaluation of a dedicated underwater air gun for diver deterrence

To improve port security capability there is a need for systems for detection, warning and deterrence of unwanted divers in harbour environments. In a complex environment such as a harbour, these topics present challenging problems and as such are subject to research and development. Already a few dedicated systems are commercially available on...

Results of Optical Detection Trials in Harbour Environment

In harbour environments operators perform tasks as detection and classification. Present-day threats of small objects, as jet skis etc, should be detected, classified and recognized. Furthermore threat intention should be analysed. As harbour environments contain several hiding spaces, due to fixed and floating neutral objects, correct...

Results of Optical Detection Trials in Harbour Environment

In harbour environments operators should perform tasks as detection and classification. Present-day threats of smallobjects, as jet skis etc, should be detected, classified and recognized. Furthermore threat intention should be analysed. As harbour environments contain several hiding spaces, due to fixed and floating neutral objects, correct...