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The sea’s soundscape, measured.

Shipping, piling and seismic surveys fill the sea with sound that whales, dolphins and fish depend on hearing through. Hydrophone moorings measure that sound to agreed metrics, so regulators track the trend, builders show they kept piling within limits and marine life is protected.

Industry

Oceans

Measurements

4

Sources cited

3

1. Oceans · Underwater noise

   A sea full of sound

   Shipping, piling and seismic surveys fill the sea with sound. Whales, dolphins and fish depend on hearing to feed, navigate and find each other, and noise masks it. Underwater noise is now a measure of good environmental status, and offshore construction must keep piling within limits.

2. What is measured

   Calibrated hydrophones

   Calibrated hydrophones on moorings record the sea’s sound continuously, from ship noise in low frequency bands to the impulses of piling and the calls of marine mammals. Each hydrophone is calibrated before deployment and again on recovery, so levels are comparable across sites.

   Instruments

   Calibrated hydrophones · Recorders · Surface buoys

3. The base node

   Levels and detections at sea

   The node computes band levels and sound exposure to the agreed metrics, detects marine mammal calls and piling strikes, and sends compact summaries. The recorder keeps the full audio for recovery, so every summary can be checked against what was heard.

4. Radio and links

   Summaries to shore

   Moorings near shore send band levels and detections over cellular; offshore moorings send them through a satellite terminal. Summaries reach regulators’ regional systems and construction control rooms, while full recordings come home on recovery. When one path fails, the other carries the data.

   Links

   Public cellular · Satellite

5. How it works

   From a whale call to a piling pause

   During offshore piling, a mooring detects porpoise clicks close to the site. The node alerts the control room with the detection and the current sound exposure. Piling pauses under the permit’s conditions until the animals move away, and the record shows every decision.

6. From order to operation · Order

   Scope the duty

   The scope reads the regulator’s monitoring duties or the construction permit’s noise conditions, shipping and species, and existing moorings. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the mooring plan, metrics, detection models and a price per mooring and per year. The scope is agreed before any site work begins.

   Plan a deployment

7. From order to operation · Survey

   Survey positions

   Crews survey positions for depth, seabed, distance from shipping lanes and construction, trawling activity and coverage for reports. Positions follow the monitoring guidance so results compare across the region. Findings shape the kit for each site before anything is built.

8. From order to operation · Permits

   Maritime consent

   Moorings are approved by the maritime authority, marked to the rules for their area and published in notices to mariners. Fishing communities are told of positions to avoid trawl losses. Every approval is kept with the mooring record. No crew goes to site before its approvals are in place.

9. From order to operation · Build

   Calibrate hydrophones

   Hydrophones and recorders are calibrated across the frequency bands, nodes configured with the metrics and detection models and enrolled with their identities, and the system is tested end to end before shipping. Nothing ships until the whole kit has passed its tests together.

   Open the Station Builder

10. From order to operation · Install

    Deploy moorings

    Crews deploy each mooring from a vessel, with the hydrophone at its design depth and the surface buoy above, record positions and depths, and watch the first reports arrive before leaving. Crews follow the site safety plan throughout the work.

11. From order to operation · Commission

    Commission the levels

    Each node proves its identity. Band levels are checked against a reference hydrophone or known sources, detections against expert review, and reports against the recorder’s full audio. The mooring enters service when checks pass. Acceptance is recorded with the owner before handover.

12. From order to operation · Operate

    Track the soundscape

    Regulators see band levels and their trend; construction teams see sound exposure during piling and stop when limits or marine mammals require; researchers receive detections and recordings. Every alert and action is kept on the record. Reports for owners and funders come from the same record.

13. From order to operation · Maintain

    Recover, recalibrate, redeploy

    Moorings are recovered on schedule, recordings retrieved, hydrophones recalibrated and moorings redeployed. Software updates roll out remotely, and every change and calibration is kept with the mooring record. Maintenance history stays with each site for its whole life. Spares and procedures travel with the crews.

    Book field services

14. Data products

    For regulators and builders

    Marine regulators receive noise band levels and trends; offshore construction teams receive piling sound exposure; researchers and observers receive marine mammal detections; scientists receive calibrated recordings, each tied to mooring, depth and time. Every product can be traced back to its readings.

    See the data products

15. Evidence

    Agreed metrics, calibrated

    Monitoring follows the marine strategy directive’s noise descriptor and its monitoring guidance, terms follow the international underwater acoustics standard, and hydrophones are calibrated before and after deployment. Every level keeps its calibration and every detection its review. The record is kept for as long as the duty lasts.

    Drawn against

    Directive 2008/56/EC · Monitoring Guidance for Underwater Noise in European Seas · ISO 18405

16. What you get

    Ocean and coastal observing

    Moored buoys, profiling floats, tide and wave gauges, coastal radar and AIS reception with quality-controlled feeds. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for ports, coastal agencies, offshore energy, fisheries. Scale: Coastline to basin. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.

    Talk to sales

17. Next step

    Plan underwater noise with us

    Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for underwater noise. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio

01The place and its hazards

Where it runs, and what can go wrong.

Operating contextUnderwater noise is a descriptor of good environmental status in the marine strategy framework directive, with monitoring guidance that sets frequency bands and metrics; underwater acoustic terms are standardised internationally. Offshore construction permits often require noise limits during piling and the presence of marine mammals to be checked.

Hazards

• Shipping noise masking whale and dolphin calls
• Impulsive piling noise during offshore construction
• Moorings lost to trawling
• Hydrophones fouled or flooded
• Huge recordings no one can analyse

02What must be measured

What, where, how often, and under which rules.

Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.

03The observation stack

From one base unit to a network.

The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.

1. 01

   Base unit

   A mooring: a calibrated hydrophone and recorder with a surface buoy and node.

   Build a station →
2. 02

   Site

   A site: moorings around a shipping lane, a port or a construction site, reporting to shore.

   Plan a site →
3. 03

   Fleet

   A regional network run to the agreed bands and metrics.

   Managed offers →
4. 04

   Network

   Regulators and researchers share noise levels and detections through regional data systems.

   The open protocol →

• 01Acoustic sensor
• 02Moored buoy
• 03Micro node (Nano)
• 043GPP NTN terminal
• 05Cellular modem/router
• 06Solar array

Radio and links

Public cellular

Moorings near shore report band levels and detections over cellular.

Radio and links

Satellite

Offshore moorings report through a satellite terminal.

Edge computeThe node computes band levels and sound exposure, detects marine mammal calls and piling strikes, and sends compact summaries while the recorder keeps the full audio for recovery.

PowerThe surface buoy carries solar panels and batteries; the hydrophone recorder has its own battery for the deployment.

04How it works

From the instrument to the product.

One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.

05From order to operation

Every step, from the first call to a running site.

The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.

1. 01 Order

   Scope the duty

   The scope reads the regulator’s monitoring duties or the construction permit’s noise conditions, shipping and species, and existing moorings. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the mooring plan, metrics, detection models and a price per mooring and per year. The scope is agreed before any site work begins. 1

2. 02 Survey

   Survey positions

   Crews survey positions for depth, seabed, distance from shipping lanes and construction, trawling activity and coverage for reports. Positions follow the monitoring guidance so results compare across the region. Findings shape the kit for each site before anything is built. 2

3. 03 Permits

   Maritime consent

   Moorings are approved by the maritime authority, marked to the rules for their area and published in notices to mariners. Fishing communities are told of positions to avoid trawl losses. Every approval is kept with the mooring record. No crew goes to site before its approvals are in place.

4. 04 Build

   Calibrate hydrophones

   Hydrophones and recorders are calibrated across the frequency bands, nodes configured with the metrics and detection models and enrolled with their identities, and the system is tested end to end before shipping. Nothing ships until the whole kit has passed its tests together. 3

5. 05 Install

   Deploy moorings

   Crews deploy each mooring from a vessel, with the hydrophone at its design depth and the surface buoy above, record positions and depths, and watch the first reports arrive before leaving. Crews follow the site safety plan throughout the work.

6. 06 Commission

   Commission the levels

   Each node proves its identity. Band levels are checked against a reference hydrophone or known sources, detections against expert review, and reports against the recorder’s full audio. The mooring enters service when checks pass. Acceptance is recorded with the owner before handover. 2

7. 07 Operate

   Track the soundscape

   Regulators see band levels and their trend; construction teams see sound exposure during piling and stop when limits or marine mammals require; researchers receive detections and recordings. Every alert and action is kept on the record. Reports for owners and funders come from the same record. 1

8. 08 Maintain

   Recover, recalibrate, redeploy

   Moorings are recovered on schedule, recordings retrieved, hydrophones recalibrated and moorings redeployed. Software updates roll out remotely, and every change and calibration is kept with the mooring record. Maintenance history stays with each site for its whole life. Spares and procedures travel with the crews. 3

06Data products and integration

What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.

Data products

• Noise band levels and trendsMarine regulators
• Piling sound exposureOffshore construction teams
• Marine mammal detectionsResearchers and observers
• Calibrated recordingsScientists

Integration

• Regional data systemsBand levels are submitted in the regional formats.
• Construction controlExposure and detections reach the piling control room.
• ResearchRecordings are shared with researchers.

Exchanged through netCDF-CF, MQTT, OGC SensorThings API.

07Questions buyers ask

Before you scope it.

Which metrics do you report?

The bands and metrics set in the monitoring guidance.

Can it stop piling?

It alerts the control room; the decision is the operator’s under its permit.

What about trawling?

Positions are published and agreed with fishers.

Is the audio kept?

Yes, on the recorder for recovery.

08Resources

The sources behind this page.

Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.

1. 1Directive 2008/56/EC establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive)European Union · 2008
2. 2Monitoring Guidance for Underwater Noise in European SeasEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre · 2014
3. 3ISO 18405: Underwater acoustics, terminologyInternational Organization for Standardization · 2017

09Related

Use cases and solutions.

10Oceans: specialized fields

Other fields of this industry.

Bring us the site.

Plan a deployment, configure a station, model it in the Studio or talk to sales. The form names who receives your details.