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arXiv · 2602.00421

Observational Evidence for Wind-Driven Low-Pass Filtering of Infrasound at Short Range

Abstract

Infrasound from controlled explosions provide a unique opportunity to isolate atmospheric effects on propagation. We report observations from two campaigns in May and October 2024, each featuring 10-ton TNT-equivalent controlled surface chemical explosions recorded by a dense network of 31 single-sensor stations within 23 km. Despite identical sources, the observed wavefields were very different. October signals followed a near-unimodal period-distance trend, whereas May signals exhibited a pronounced azimuthal bifurcation in both period and celerity. Downwind paths largely preserved the short-period baseline observed in October, while upwind paths showed systematically longer periods caused by wind-driven low-pass filtering. This study provides the first direct observational evidence that tropospheric winds can impose azimuth-dependent low-pass filtering at local ranges, without the influence of measured temperature inversions. Thus, the structure of the atmosphere can modify the spectral characteristics of low-frequency acoustic waves even at a distance of only a few kilometers.

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Elizabeth A. Silber, Daniel C. Bowman, Sasha Egan, Lawrence Burkett, Michael Fleigle, Keehoon Kim, Tesla Newton, Loring P. Schaible, Richard Sonnenfeld, Nora Wynn, Jonathan Snively. 2026-01-31. Observational Evidence for Wind-Driven Low-Pass Filtering of Infrasound at Short Range. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl120042

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