Environmental Assessments and Mitigation of Naval Operations (Air and Surface)

The objectives of this research are to fully design and develop a prototype of an environmental impact assessment and mitigation software suite, focusing on the impact of active acoustic emissions on marine mammals. This software will be: web-enabled,cross-platform capable, and be applicable throughout the life cycle of active source programs. Databases of biological data, environmental regulations, environmental data, and active source parameters will be created and integrated with the suite. Thesoftware will incorporate state-of-the-art, Navy standard and research-level acoustic models and derive zones of impact from modeled results. Analysis of alternatives will be provided for development stage acoustic sources and enable engineers todetermine the potential impact of various system trade-offs early in the development cycle. For operation systems, the tools will allow modifications to the deployment of the system such that impact is minimized. Component-based software designmethodologies will be employed to maximize reusability. Software deployment strategies will be designed to maximize availability and performance in a networked environment. Many organizations within the U.S. government and private industry could make useof the environmental assessment software tool designed as part of this research, in order to ensure compliance with applicable laws. Examples include companies involved in drilling and recovery of natural resources, underwater construction, oceanictransportation, and marine geophysical and seismic surveying.