Long-range propagation and scattering of low-frequency sound pulses in the middle atmosphere

Summary A short historical review and an analysis of the current status of both theoretical and experimental studies of long-range sound propagation in the atmosphere are given. Basic results are given on the atmospheric fine-layered structure that significantly affects the infrasonic pulse propagation and scattering in the lower and middle atmosphere. The effect of time variations (seasonal changes, tides, and both planetary and internal gravity waves) in the effective acoustic speed profile on the characteristics of infrasonic signals from different pulsed sources is discussed. The results of the studies of partial reflection (scattering) of low-frequency acoustic pulses from the fine-layered inhomogeneities of the middle atmosphere are presented. The results of the corresponding theoretical studies are also given. The potentialities of the method of long-range acoustic sounding of large-scale anisotropic turbulence in the middle atmosphere are discussed. The problems of infrasonic monitoring of nuclear low-energy explosions are also considered.     

Physical modeling of long-range infrasonic propagation in the atmosphere

The results of experiments on the physical modeling of long-range infrasonic propagation in the atmosphere are given. Such modeling is based on the possible coincidence between the forms of the vertical profiles of the effective sound speed stratification in the atmospheric boundary layer (between 0 and 600 m for the case under consideration) and in the atmosphere as a whole (from the land surface up to thermospheric heights (about 150 km)). The source of acoustic pulses was an oscillator of detonation type. Owing to the detonation of a gas mixture of air (or oxygen) and propane, this generator was capable of producing short, powerful (the maximum acoustic pressure was on the order of 30 to 60 Pa at a distance of 50 to 100 m from the oscillator), and sufficiently stable acoustic pulses with a spectral maximum at frequencies of 40 to 60 Hz and a pulsing period of 20 to 30 s. The sites of acoustic-signal recording were located at different distances (up to 6.5 km) from the source and in different azimuthal directions. The temperature and wind stratifications were monitored in real time during the experiments with an acoustic locator—a sodar—and a temperature profiler. The data on the physical modeling of long-range sound propagation in the atmosphere are analyzed to verify the physical and mathematical models of predicting acoustic fields in the inhomogeneous moving atmosphere on the basis of the parabolic equation and the method of normal waves. A satisfactory agreement between calculated and experimental data is obtained. One more task was to compare the theoretical relations between variations in the azimuths and angles of tilting of sound rays about the horizon and the parameters of anisotropic turbulence in the lower troposphere and stratosphere with the experimental data. A theoretical interpretation of the experimental results is proposed on the basis of the theory of anisotropic turbulence in the atmosphere. The theoretical and experimental results are compared, and a satisfactory agreement between these results is noted.     

A study of the spatial structure of the atmospheric boundary layer with a Doppler-Sodar network

The studies conducted in 1991–2004 by scientists of the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry yielded data on the structures of the surface air layer (to a height of 20 m) and both subinversion and inversion layers (to heights of from 800 m to 1 km), where arid aerosol is transported. One of the main objectives of the 2007 experiment was to record the space-vortex structures within a layer of 30–700 m that directly provide the removal and long-range transport of fine-dispersed (<5 µm) desert aerosol. This paper describes the organization of the Khar-Gzyr 2007 experiment (Black Lands, 2007) to study the convective removal of arid aerosol from desertificated lands, and it presents some data obtained from the remote sensing of the atmospheric boundary layer with a sodar network in the course of this experiment. The sodar network, which was developed to study a spatial structure of coherent vortices, included three identical minisodars (with carrier frequencies of 3.8 kHz) located at the apices of a triangle, each side of which was about 3.5 km, and a sodar (with a carrier frequency of 1.7 kHz). The vertical profiles of the three wind-velocity components and the characteristics of air temperature fluctuations were determined. The procedure of identifying coherent vortex structures is described. The variations in the vertical and horizontal wind-velocity components and the scales characteristic of such structures are estimated.     

Simulating the influence of an atmospheric fine inhomogeneous structure on long-range propagation of pulsed acoustic signals

The results of simulating the influence of an atmospheric fine structure on the characteristics of acoustic signals propagating throughout the atmosphere for long distances from their sources are presented. A numerical model of an atmospheric fine inhomogeneous structure within the height range z = 20…120 km is proposed to perform calculations. This model and its numerical parameters are based on the current notions of the formation of an atmospheric fine structure due to internal gravity waves. The numerical calculations were performed using the parabolic-equation method. A spatial structure of the acoustic field and the structure of an acoustic signal at long distances from a pulsed source were calculated. It is shown that the presence of an atmospheric fine structure results in a scattering of acoustic signals and their recording in the geometric shadow region. The results of calculations of signal forms are in a satisfactory agreement with data on signals recorded in the geometric shadow region which is formed at a distance of about 300 km from an experimental explosion.     

Infrasonic waves from volcanic eruptions on the Kamchatka peninsula

The IS44 station operates at the observation point of Nachiki on the Kamchatka peninsula, which is part of the International Monitoring System (IMS), and it helps verify compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The Kamchatka Branch, Geophysical Service, Russian Academy of Sciences (KB GS RAS), has a station operating in the village of Paratunka. Both of these stations allow one to monitor strong explosive eruptions of andesitic volcanoes.¹ Both kinematic and dynamic parameters of acoustic signals accompanying the eruptions of the Bezymyannyi volcano (at a distance of 361 km from Nachiki) in 2009–2010 and the Kizimen volcano (at a distance of 275 km) on December 31, 2011, are considered. A low-frequency rarefaction phase 60 s in length has been revealed in the initial portion of the record of acoustic signals accompanying such strong eruptions. It is shown that the rarefaction phase occurs due to the rapid condensation of superheated juvenile vapor² that enters the atmosphere during such explosions.³ The amount of volcanic ash emitted into the atmosphere has been estimated within (3.2–7.3) 10⁶ m³ on the basis of acoustic signals recorded during the eruptions under consideration.     

Nonlinear effects manifested in infrasonic signals in the region of a geometric shadow

Nonlinear effects manifested in infrasonic signals passing through different atmospheric heights and recorded in the region of a geometric shadow have been studied. The source of infrasound was a surface explosion equivalent to 20–70 t of TNT. The frequencies of the spectral maxima of infrasonic signals, which correspond to the reflections of acoustic pulses from atmospheric inhomogeneities at different heights within the stratosphere-mesosphere-lower thermosphere layer, were calculated using the nonlinear-theory method. A satisfactory agreement between experimental and calculated data was obtained.     

The propagation of an acoustic pulse in a near-ground atmospheric waveguide

A wave theory of propagation of an acoustic pulse in a moving stratified atmospheric layer above the ground with a finite impedance of an underlying ground surface is developed. The shapes of acoustic signals in a near-ground atmospheric waveguide, which are formed due to temperature inversion and a vertical shear of the wind velocity, are calculated based on this theory. These signals are compared with those measured during the experiments where vertical profiles of the wind velocity and temperature in an atmospheric boundary layer have been continuously controlled using a sodar, a temperature profile meter, and acoustic anemometers or thermometers mounted on a 56-meter-high mast. The joint action of a near-ground acoustic waveguide, the impedance of the underlying surface, and a vertical layered structure of the boundary atmospheric layer on a signal shape far from the acoustic source are studied.     

Internal Gravity and Infrasound Waves during the Hurricane of May 29, 2017, in Moscow

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - Data on internal gravity and infrasound waves recorded during the passage of both warm and cold fronts throughout Moscow, which are associated with the...     

Studying characteristics of a fine layered structure of the lower troposphere on the basis of acoustic pulse sounding

Results of acoustic sounding of the lower troposphere with the aid of detonation generators of acoustic pulses are given. This sounding method is based on a partial reflection of acoustic pulses with shock fronts from vertical wind-velocity and temperature gradients continuously varying with height in the troposphere and on the penetration of reflected signals into the region of acoustic shadow. Experiments on tropospheric sounding were carried out on the ground of the Barva Innovation Scientific and Technical Center (Talin, Armenia) in September 2015. In these experiments, an antihail acoustic system was first used as a generator of acoustic pulses. Experimental results have been compared with data obtained earlier in similar experiments carried out in the vicinity of Zvenigorod with the use of a special detonation generator of acoustic pulses. Due to the high resolution (in height) of the sounding method, which reaches 1 m in the stably stratified lower troposphere within a height range of 250–600 m, the vertical profiles of layered effective sound speed inhomogeneities with vertical scales from a few to a few tens of meters have been retrieved. The influence of these fluctuations on the form and amplitude of acoustic signals at a long distance from their pulsed source has been studied.