IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, VOL. 30, NO.

2, APRIL 2005 257

Ship Sources of Ambient Noise

Donald Ross

Abstract—The rapid increase in world shipping results in an in- Fig. 4 is the same type of display for 200 and 300 Hz. While
crease in low-frequency ambient noise at an average rate of about there is still a correlation with the 100 Hz level, it is not as strong.
1/2 dB per year. During the past 10 years there has been a virtual
In fact, an “S”-shaped curve, which indicates that only in the
revolution in the sizes and speeds of merchant ships, resulting in
significant increases in the noise radiated by the average ship. This high shipping density areas (that is, high 100 Hz noise) does the
trend is continuing. In this paper, the trends in world merchant high frequency variation correlate.
shipping will be presented, including important changes in propul- The point, however, is that shipping is controlling noise levels
sion plants as well as in numbers and sizes of ships. The need for ra-
out as far as 300 Hz today even though 15 to 20 years ago it did
diated noise measurements of these new ship types will be stressed.
Ambient noise is also dependent on the geographical distribution not seem to be the case.
of shipping. The LRAPP-sponsored program to establish standard Fig. 5 shows the 50 Hz level from each of the 40 or so spectra
shipping distributions for the Northern Hemisphere will be dis- plotted as a function of the year in which the measurements were
cussed, and the reliability of current information will be assessed.
made. Although specific sites are not labeled, there are some
Index Terms—Ambient noise, shipping distribution. sites which are represented by several data points indicating a
definite increase in the noise in the eastern Pacific. Over the
I. INTRODUCTION period from 1950 to 1970 the noise has increased at a rate of
about 1/2 dB per year. This is just a trend curve. There is no

T HE first question to be addressed is: Is the ocean getting

noisier? Fig. 1 displays a set of noise curves that were de-
veloped about 15 years ago based on a set developed 6 years
direct proof that the noise is going up in the eastern Atlantic;
however, the general trend would suggest the curve indicated.
LRAPP has returned to some areas in the eastern Atlantic and
earlier at Bell Labs. The shipping noise is distinctly indicated as
noted about a 2-dB increase in a 3-year period.
a separate component from the wind-speed noise. These curves
indicate a little more structure than those shown in Wenz [1], Why then is the ocean getting noisier? There are two basic
although Wenz had these curves at that time. More importantly, reasons. First, there has been a significant change in the nature
areas that used to be in the B to C region (typical of the Pacific of merchant ships. The number has changed some, but this is
Ocean 15 or 20 years ago) have moved up into the D to E region; secondary. The second reason (and this is a very important one
and areas that used to be in the D to E region at the time these in some areas) is the increase in the offshore oil activity on the
curves were developed have moved up into the F to G region. continental shelf of the oceans. Prior to about 3 or 4 years ago,
In addition, two more curves have been required going up to 95 all of the offshore oil activity was in sheltered, very shallow
and 100 dB to encompass data acquired in the eastern Atlantic water, with little impact on the deep-ocean ambient noise. The
and the Mediterranean in the last several years. trend now is to drill for oil at the edges of continental shelves
Fig. 2 illustrates a recent compilation of ambient spectra right at the mouth of the megaphone, and this sound is definitely
based on 20 years’ worth of data made available by Gordon getting into the open ocean.
Wenz. Approximately 40 individual noise spectra were in- First, consider the number of ships. Fig. 6 shows the total
cluded in the data set, each being an average spectrum over number of merchant ships, broken down into types based on
periods of a minimum of a week and in some cases 2 years. information from 1956 to 1973, and then extrapolated to 1980
After grouping these into categories with spreads of no on the basis of the number of ships being built and industry
more than 5 dB, six groups were developed, quite similar to projections.
the curves on Fig. 1. The shading about 20 Hz indicates the The point is that the average slope of this total number of ships
tremendous low-frequency variation due to whale noise. The would induce an increase in the ambient noise of only 1/10 of a
shading above 100 Hz -indicates effects due to wind speed. dB per year (assuming the average source levels are constant in
From these data, Fig. 3 was developed which plots the 50 Hz time). So it is not the number of ships that accounts for 1/2 dB
levels and the 150 Hz levels for each individual spectrum as per year change, although the number of ships was very steeply
a function of the 100 Hz level. This shows a very distinct rising right at the beginning of the ambient-noise data period. In
correlation with the 50-Hz level increasing more rapidly than 1952, there was also a sharp rise in the number of ships. On the
the 150-Hz level. Hence, as the spectra get noisier at 100 Hz,
average, however, it is not rising nearly enough to account for
the spectra at 50 Hz are actually increasing somewhat faster,
total increase in noise.
and at 150 Hz just a little bit slower.
Fig. 7 shows the number of ships at sea by type and by size in
terms of tonnage. Each curve at a particular value of “cutoff ton-
This paper was originally published in the Proceedings of the International nage” represents the number of ships of that tonnage or greater.
Workshop on Low-Frequency Propagation and Noise, October 1974.
The author was with the Tetra Tech, Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107 USA. In noise modeling, different people tend to use different cutoff
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JOE.2005.850879 tonnages. Considering the strong dependence of the number of
0364-9059/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
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 258 IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, VOL. 30, NO. 2, APRIL 2005

Fig. 1. Ambient noise due to shipping and wind (BBN 1960).

Fig. 2. Average spectrum levels.

ships on tonnage, different cutoffs could lead to entirely dif-

ferent predicted noise levels.
This figure is designed to do two things. It shows the total
number of ships at sea as a function of year, every 4 years
roughly. This would indicate an increase which is only 0.13 dB
per year. Because the ships are getting bigger and more effi- Fig. 3. Correlation of 50 Hz and 150 Hz spectrum levels with 100 Hz level.
cient, and port handling facilities are more effective, the number
of ships at sea increases more rapidly than the total number of as there are merchant ships. Note also that the number of naval
ships. ships at sea is a relatively minor part of the total.
The second point is that for merchant ships alone there is Since the increase in the number of ships at sea cannot ac-
not a significant difference between cutting off at 2000 tons or count for the increase in measured noise, perhaps the horse-
1000 tons or even 100 tons. The total curves increase rapidly power output can.
below 1000 tons because of fishing vessels. In fact, at the Fig. 8 shows the “at-sea horsepower” by ship class and year.
100-ton cutoff, there are almost as many fishing vessels at sea The “at-sea horsepower” is found by multiplying the average
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 ROSS: SHIP SOURCES OF AMBIENT NOISE 259

Fig. 4. Correlation of 200 Hz and 300 Hz spectrum levels with 100 Hz level.

Fig. 6. Number of merchant ships versus year.

Fig. 5. 50 Hz spectrum level versus year for various oceans.

rated horsepower of the machinery on each merchant ship by

type. This is the installed at-sea horsepower and the horsepower
actually being used is probably about 80 percent of this number.
Notice that the merchants, which is the total of tankers and
bulk carriers and cargo ships, account for most of the horse-
power. The remainder is accounted for by fishing vessels and
naval craft. Translated into decibels’ the trend is an increase at
a rate of about 0.3 dB per year. Note that the projected trend is
at a lower rate and may by the end of the decade start bending Fig. 7. Number of ships versus cut-off tonnage.
over.
Fig. 9 summarizes the calculations for the decade from 1968 The three new ships are either tankers or containerships and are
to 1978, giving current trends in the number of ships, tonnage larger and/or faster than the older ships. The two old ships that
and horsepower, both in total and the amounts at sea. Notice are being scrapped are smaller, with considerably less horse-
that the horsepower per ship is going up faster (4.4 percent or power in them. Hence, the horsepower per ship at sea is going
0.18 dB per year) than the number of ships at sea. The reason up rapidly because the modern ships being phased in are av-
for this is that for every three new ships that are put into ser- eraging 40 000 horsepower per ship, and the older ships being
vice in a year, two ships are being either scrapped or laid up. phased out are averaging about 5000 horsepower per ship. There
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 260 IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, VOL. 30, NO. 2, APRIL 2005

Fig. 11. Standard ship spectrum.

Fig. 8. At-sea horsepower versus year.

Fig. 12. Trends in propulsion.

Fig. 13. Trend to medium-speed four-cycle diesels.

of mechanical power to acoustic power and, hence, couple better

into the ocean making more noise. As a result, a rule of thumb
Fig. 9. Annual increases in shipping decade 1968–1978.
was developed using horsepower to the 4/3 power for converting
to noise power. Hence, by adding the dB increase in the number
of ships to 4/3 of the dB increase in average horsepower per ship,
the average increase in noise is estimated to be about 0.4 dB per
year. Alternatively, if the increase in average length and speed
are included via the Ross-Alvarez formula, a trend of 0.5 dB per
year is obtained.
So, based on two different calculations, the current estimate
is that the noise in the oceans due to shipping is increasing at
about 0.4 dB per year, which is a little less than the 0.5 dB per
year observed for the decades from 1950 to 1970.
A statement about the present state of knowledge on surface
shipping would be incomplete without a mention of source
Fig. 10. Ambient noise estimates. levels. Very little is really known about the noise radiated
by modern merchant ships. The Ross and Alvarez spectrum
are, in fact, some ships being built today which have as much as (Fig. 11) was developed in 1962 from ships that were less than
240 000 shaft horsepower. This is more than an aircraft carrier. 650 feet in length, with speeds less than 10 knots. The new ships
These statistics have an additional impact on ambient noise being launched in the shipyards of the world today are rarely as
estimation, as shown in Fig. 10. From work on submarines and small as 600 feet, and certainly not many except for tankers are
surface ships, it appears that bigger things are better converters as slow as 19 knots. Hence, the whole modern ship population
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 ROSS: SHIP SOURCES OF AMBIENT NOISE 261

Fig. 14. Total ship densities NE Pacific.

travels with speeds above 20 knots (some even 35 knots) with (Fig. 13). These medium-speed diesels are some 20 dB noisier
typically 35 000 shaft horsepower compared with 15 knots for the same horse-power than a direct-drive diesel. They put
and the 7000 horsepower of 1962 ships. The only quantitative out line spectra with a 7 Hz fundamental across the entire low
measurement on a modern ship was made by Beau Buck of one frequency band, since their average rpm is 450 100. The
containership in the Santa Barbara Channel. Incidentally, that present trend toward using medium-speed diesels shown in this
spectrum doesn’t look at all like the surface-ship spectra of the figure may have a very significant impact on noise in the future.
1960s. Finally, Fig. 14 shows the new ship densities generated by
Another trend (Fig. 12) is in propulsion. Not only are the ships Ross, Mahler and Solomon for LRAPP. The number of ships
bigger and faster, but their propulsion plants are quite different. per 5-degree square has been estimated for each ocean area.
Twenty years ago there were three types of propulsion systems Nine such charts have been generated; this is for the northeast
that were important: direct-drive diesels, steam turbines, and re- Pacific. For each 5-degree square, the average number of mer-
ciprocating steamplants. Now the reciprocating steamplant has chant, fishing, and total ships is estimated. The totals are prob-
all but disappeared, being replaced by the geared medium-speed ably accurate to within 10 percent for each of the ocean areas.
diesel. The steam turbines operate typically at 3000 to 7000 rpm But any of the 5-degree squares could easily be in error by a
and must be geared to the propellers that operated between 90 to factor of 2.
110 rpm. Direct-drive diesels, on the other hand, are connected
directly to the propellers and operate at exactly the same rpm.
high-speed diesels were not used in the past because they have
a very small speed ratio. That is, they cannot be slowed down REFERENCES
by much before stalling out.
The newer ships use controllable pitch propellers to handle [1] G. M. Wenz, “Acoustic ambient noise in the ocean: Spectra and sources,”
speed changes in conjunction with medium-speed diesels J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 34, no. 12, pp. 1936–1956, 1962.

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