A novel experimental approach for assessment of impacts due to magnetic fields from submarine HVDC cable systems on benthic infauna

In this work, an experimental design for the evaluation of impacts of magnetic fields from HVDC cables on benthic animals is presented. Unlike previous studies, the vector orientation of the field and the spatial distribution are non-uniform, representing the magnetic fields from an HVDC system more accurately. The setup is designed using numerical models and tested to show that no additional stresses are imposed in the experiment and that the device produces the magnetic fields predicted by the models. Biological techniques quantifying behavioural changes and stresses are described to present a complete approach for the experimental design.