Propagation model based explosive yield determination from stratospheric infrasound arrivals: Humming Roadrunner data analysis

Abstract

Attempts to estimate explosive yields from stratospheric infrasonic returns have often relied on empirical relationships between explosive charge weight, source-to-receiver range, and a simple parameterization of the atmospheric state. We propose to approach the yield estimation problem by combining knowledge of acoustic generation by explosions and numerical acoustic propagation modeling using state-of-the-art atmospheric specifications (G2S). The goal is to provide a more accurate and robust yield estimation tool that can incorporate a variety of meteorological scenarios. We introduce an approach based on modeling the transmission loss between source and receiver using an incoherent modal sum. The total observed signal power is related to the near-field acoustic power generated by the source event. The technique is applied to stratospheric returns recorded from the Humming Roadrunner Ground Truth experiments performed in the August 2012 in the American West.