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Assessing the Temporal Coherency of Infrasound Generated by Repeated Explosions in McAlester, Oklahoma

Session: Infrasound and the Seismo-Acoustic Wavefield I

Type: Oral

Date: 4/20/2021

Presentation Time: 10:30 AM Pacific

Description: 

Current state-of-the-art atmospheric specification systems lack the temporal resolution necessary to resolve short timescale atmospheric dynamics that impact infrasound propagation. Infrasound observations, however, can provide additional information on the atmospheric state. During the summer of 2016, repeated detections were made by six regional infrasound sensors associated with the IRIS Wavefields Demonstration Community Experiment. It was determined that these signals were generated by explosions conducted at the McAlester Army Ammunitions Plant (McAAP) in McAlester, Oklahoma. The repeated detonation of sequences of ~50 explosions over short time intervals (~20 mins) from McAAP provides an opportunity to quantify the impact of short timescale atmospheric variability on stratospheric infrasound.

The analysis of IRIS Wavefields infrasound data has yielded several interesting results, but interpretation is limited by the sub-optimal array configuration and lack of near-source capture of the acoustic waves. In order to further our research, we conducted an experiment that involved the deployment of three infrasound arrays. The first array was deployed near-source, at approximately 1-2 kilometers away from the blasting site. The second deployment was located Eastern Oklahoma State College, situated roughly 50 kilometers away from McAAP. The third array was be located at the University of the Ozarks, at approximately 240 kilometers away to detect stratospheric infrasound. We report on initial observations and analysis of this dataset.

Presenting Author: Miro Giannone

Student Presenter: No

Authors