Investigation of underwater noise pollution in european rivers due to urban traffic: case study of River Spree through Berlin

Abstract

Urban rivers are often lined and crossed by dense transport infrastructure, including road bridges, heavy and light rail, tunnels, and intensive tourist and commercial vessel traffic. These sources inject substantial acoustic energy into shallow, laterally confined waveguides, yet riverine underwater noise has received far less attention than marine shipping noise. This chapter presents a case study from the River Spree in Berlin, Germany, where a 7 km transect was surveyed to characterise underwater noise associated with road traffic on bridges, urban and regional rail on bridges, metro traffic in tunnels beneath the river, and sightseeing vessels. Measurements were made with a calibrated spherical hydrophone at 2.8 to 3.6 m depth (mean 3.1 m). Event-level broadband sound pressure levels (SPL) reached approximately 152 dB re 1 μPa for cars on bridges, 161 and 166 dB re 1 μPa for regional and S-Bahn trains, 174 dB re 1 μPa for U-Bahn traffic in tunnels, and up to 181 dB re 1 μPa for nearby vessel passages. Spectrograms revealed distinct source-specific signatures, including a pronounced shallow-water low-frequency cut-off for vessel noise. The results illustrate that land-based transport can be a major contributor to urban river soundscapes and highlight the need for river-appropriate propagation models, long-term monitoring, and integration of underwater noise into river corridor planning and ecosystem restoration.

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Identifiers

ORCID for William L. Wu: orcid.org/0009-0008-0506-8350

ORCID for Paul S. Kemp: orcid.org/0000-0003-4470-0589

ORCID for Paul R. White: orcid.org/0000-0002-4787-8713

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