Lamb waves from airborne explosion sources: Viscous effects and comparisons to ducted acoustic arrivals

Observations of large explosions in the atmosphere at long range are dominated by a leading pulse of large amplitude and long period that is often followed by a series of higher frequency impulses usually of smaller amplitude. This description can be interpreted using linearized acoustic-gravity wave theory in terms of a Lamb wave arrival followed by ducted acoustic and/or gravity waves. This pattern of arrivals is not the same at all ranges nor is it independent of the source energy or of the altitude of the source. Earlier, Pierce, using an isothermal, windless atmospheric model, theoretically formulated the distances beyond which the Lamb wave would just be discernible and also where it would dominate the arriving signals for a specified explosion source. In this work the authors have evaluated these distances for the cases of both an inviscid and a viscous fluid for the source energies of interest to the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) R and D work at Los Alamos. Although the inviscid results are analytic, the fully viscous solutions are iterative. For the inviscid solutions, the authors find that the Lamb wave domination distance is proportional to wave frequency at frequencies large with respect to the acoustic waveguide cut-off frequency. Under similar conditions they also find that the computed distances are linearly proportional to the source height. At 1 Hz for example, the Lamb wave must propagate about 200 km before having a significant amplitude. For a viscous fluid they found slight increases in the distances compared to an inviscid fluid with the lower frequencies, near the acoustic cut-off frequency, exhibiting the greatest changes. During the period from 1981--1994 at Los Alamos, they have also observed infrasound from eight point source, near-surface ANFO explosions at White Sands Missile Range events even though the ducted acoustic waves were observed. In this work, they will compare the current theory against some of these observations

Orbital evolution of P\v{r}\'{i}bram and Neuschwanstein

The orbital evolution of the two meteorites P\v{r}\'{i}bram and Neuschwanstein on almost identical orbits and also several thousand clones were studied in the framework of the N-body problem for 5000 years into the past. The meteorites moved on very similar orbits during the whole investigated interval. We have also searched for photographic meteors and asteroids moving on similar orbits. There were 5 meteors found in the IAU MDC database and 6 NEAs with currently similar orbits to P\v{r}\'{i}bram and Neuschwanstein. However, only one meteor 161E1 and one asteroid 2002 QG46 had a similar orbital evolution over the last 2000 years.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 table

Revisiting the Local Scaling Hypothesis in Stably Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence: an Integration of Field and Laboratory Measurements with Large-eddy Simulations

The `local scaling' hypothesis, first introduced by Nieuwstadt two decades ago, describes the turbulence structure of stable boundary layers in a very succinct way and is an integral part of numerous local closure-based numerical weather prediction models. However, the validity of this hypothesis under very stable conditions is a subject of on-going debate. In this work, we attempt to address this controversial issue by performing extensive analyses of turbulence data from several field campaigns, wind-tunnel experiments and large-eddy simulations. Wide range of stabilities, diverse field conditions and a comprehensive set of turbulence statistics make this study distinct