Does the Hood Canal Bridge traffic noise affect migrating steelhead smolts?

Abstract

Recent research conducted by NOAA's Manchester Research Laboratory has provided strong evidence of a substantial migration interference and increased mortality risk of steelhead smolts associated with the Hood Canal Bridge, which drives the need to investigate the sound and vibration generated by the vehicles crossing the bridge. A month-long monitoring of in-water sound pressure and the vibration of the bridge pontoons was performed at the Hood Canal Bridge by three sets of autonomous sound and vibration recording systems deployed along the bridge. At each deployment site, sound pressure in water was recorded by a hydrophone submerged three meters under water, and the vibration of the bridge pontoon was recorded by an array of three orthogonally mounted single-axis accelerometers. Both sound pressure and acceleration data were analyzed and compared to the threshold levels suggested by previous studies. Results show that the observed sound pressure levels and particle accelerations are strongly correlated with traffic volume across the bridge, and particle accelerations occasionally exceeded the threshold levels that could elicit the avoidance behavior of juvenile salmon. It is concluded that the Hood Canal Bridge traffic noise can potentially affect migrating salmonids due to the intense particle accelerations caused by the bridge pontoons in water.