Source and propagation modelling scenarios for environmental impact assessment: Model verificationa)

Area of Science:

• Marine acoustics
• Environmental impact assessment
• Computational modeling

Background:

• Assessing underwater sound's effects on marine ecosystems necessitates accurate sound field quantification.
• Existing marine sound source and propagation models require rigorous evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate marine sound source and propagation models.
• To identify key metrics for environmental impact assessments.
• To facilitate model verification and validation.

Main Methods:

• Workshop focused on model-model (verification) and model-measurement (validation) comparisons.
• Included analysis of data from airguns, multi-beam echo sounders, and surface vessels.
• Specified multiple verification scenarios for standardized evaluation.

Main Results:

• Facilitated the evaluation of various marine sound propagation models.
• Identified critical metrics for environmental impact assessment.
• Provided a framework for comparing model performance.

Conclusions:

• Standardized model evaluation is essential for reliable impact assessments.
• Model verification and validation are key steps in understanding sound propagation.
• The workshop provided a foundation for improving marine sound modeling.