Prediction of regional infrasound produced by supersonic sources using a ray-based Mach cone source

Philip Blom; Christine Gammans; Brent Delbridge; Joshua D Carmichael

doi:10.1121/10.0025025

Prediction of regional infrasound produced by supersonic sources using a ray-based Mach cone source

J Acoust Soc Am. 2024 Mar 1;155(3):1667-1681. doi: 10.1121/10.0025025.

Authors

Philip Blom¹, Christine Gammans¹, Brent Delbridge¹, Joshua D Carmichael¹

Affiliation

¹ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544, USA.

PMID: 38426834
DOI: 10.1121/10.0025025

Abstract

The geometry of the Mach cone produced by a supersonic source is analyzed and mapped into initial conditions used in acoustic ray tracing. The resulting source model is combined with spherical geometry ray tracing methods to enable propagation simulations for infrasonic signals produced by bolides, space debris, rockets, aircraft, and other fast-than-sound sources out to typical infrasonic observation distances of hundreds or thousands of kilometers. Idealized linear and parabolic trajectories typical of bolides and rockets, respectively, are used to demonstrate the calculation of regional infrasonic signals produced by such sources and characteristics of the radiated infrasonic waves are found to vary strongly with the geometry of the trajectory and atmospheric structure. Predicted regional infrasonic signals are compared with those observed from a November 2020 bolide that passed over Scandinavia using a combination of institutionally maintained infrasound stations and "citizen scientist" data from the Raspberry Shake data repository.