What is the decibel level the Navy has asked permission to use in their LOA request to NMFS?
The NMFS announcement of the Navy’s LOA request states that a 180 dB sound field will extend 2 kilometers from the ship. This means that the source level from the ship will be 246 dB. What is the difference in impact on marine life when LFAS is used at 203 dB which was the highest level in the Hawaii tests as compared to 246 dB which is the level the Navy intends to use the system at in normal operations? As you can imagine 246 does not equal 203. Because the decibel scale is logarithmic, higher dB values reflect much higher sound pressure levels. Therefore, a decibel level of 246 represents 20,000 times more acoustic intensity than 203 dB. No one knows the impact to marine life at 246 dB. If at much lower dB levels we see: • abandoned calves • whales leaving the test area • 80% of whales tested, stopping their songs • and a mass stranding of beaked whales in the Mediterrean Sea We can’t imagine what would happen at 246 dB, except to know that the LFAS will put marine life at risk in a
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