Ambient noise in north-European seas: Monitoring, impact and management 3 - 5 October 2011 National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK. New Abstract Deadline. Ambient (background) noise levels in the sea are increasingly influenced by man-made activities, which are gradually changing the sound-scape of European waters. Rising levels of ambient noise pose increasing pressures on marine life, and this has led to underwater noise being classified by the EC as a pollutant in connection with the assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Member states will be asked to provide information on trends in ambient noise levels, which requires representative measurements made at appropriate monitoring stations. This in turn requires agreed methodologies for measuring and analysing ambient noise. There is a relative lack of data for ambient noise in coastal waters, for example around the North Sea, and such data that exist suggest levels higher than those observed in deep ocean experiments. The potential impracticalities and expense of large scale monitoring programs motivates the need to learn lessons from existing data and to make use of modelling techniques where feasible. The aim of this two-and-a-half-day meeting is to address the above issues within a scientific conference, and papers are invited on the following topics: * Methodologies and standards for ambient noise monitoring and reporting; * Technology for ambient noise monitoring; * Characterisation of anthropogenic sources contributing to noise; * Modelling ambient noise, * Trend identification in ambient noise (seasonal diurnal long term etc) * Analysis of existing data sets and data-basing of noise records, * Formulation of noise policy and regulation Deadline for abstract submission Friday 17 June 2011 Deadline for extended abstracts (3 pages) Friday 19 August 2011 For abstract submission and more information see http//www.ioa.org.uk/events/event.asp?id=119 Technical contacts Stephen Robinson, NPL, Tel 020 8943 7152, email stephen.robinson@npl.co.uk Rolly Rogers, NOC, Tel 023 8059 6314, email rxr@noc.soton.ac.uk Admin contact: Linda Canty, institute of Acoustics, Tel: 01727 848195, email: linda.canty@ioa.org.uk The meeting is jointly organised by the Institute of Acoustics and the Underwater Sound Forum of the Marine Science Co-ordination Committee. Please note that our email address has changed to firstname.lastname@ultra-sonar.com. This is to reflect the change in name to Ultra Electronics Sonar Systems, a business name of Ultra Electronics Limited. All other contact details remain the same. DISCLAIMER This e-mail from Ultra Electronics Limited and any attachments to it are confidential to the intended recipient and may also be privileged. If you have received it in error please notify the sender and delete it from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy it or use it for any purpose nor disclose or distribute its contents to any other person. All communications may be subject to interception or monitoring for operational and/or security purposes. Please rely on your own virus checking as the sender cannot accept any liability for any damage arising from any bug or virus infection. Ultra Electronics Limited is a company registered in England and Wales, registration number 2830644. The address of its registered office is 417 Bridport Road, Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 8UA.