Computational Prediction of Infrasound Arrival Times and Directions from Stationary and Moving Impulsive Sources

Technical Report · Tue Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2585519· OSTI ID:2585519

Silber, Elizabeth Allaryce ^[1]

---

1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

This report addresses the need to predict infrasound signal arrival times and back azimuths at monitoring stations, enabling more focused and efficient searches within recorded waveform data. The primary challenge is estimating expected signal arrival windows for stationary and moving acoustic sources, such as chemical explosions, volcanic eruptions, meteoroids, and spacecraft re-entry events. To address this challenge, a reproducible methodology is described that uses simplified propagation speeds for boundary layer, tropospheric, stratospheric, and thermospheric atmospheric waveguides. While the Python source code itself is not freely available, this document provides detailed, step-by-step instructions, and equations enabling users to replicate and adapt the method independently. The method reliably predicts signal arrival intervals and back azimuths, thereby supporting rapid detection and accurate interpretation of infrasound events. Results demonstrate that this method effectively identifies plausible signal arrival intervals and directions, facilitating faster event detection and more reliable interpretation. This methodology directly supports atmospheric monitoring, planetary defense, and forensic analysis of explosive atmospheric events.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• DOE Contract Number: NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 2585519
• Report Number(s): SAND--2025-08617; 1783140
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING