Publications Details
Infrasound records from U.S. atmospheric tests
The United States conducted over 100 atmospheric nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 through 1962. Some of the earliest tests caused unexpected damage, primarily broken glass and cracked plaster, in Las Vegas and other surrounding communities. To address this problem, Sandia initiated a program to monitor and predict the pressure waves around NTS. Infrasound recording systems were developed, then field for all tests beginning with Operation Buster in October 1951. Investigators soon discovered that near-surface temperature inversions and wind profiles caused the damaging pressures in Las Vegas. A typical test was recorded at about a dozen stations from the Control Point on NTS to as far away as Pasadena, CA. In addition, some tests in the South Pacific were monitored, as well as numerous chemical explosions. Strip charts recorded signals in the frequency band from 0.05 to 30 Hz, and the paper tapes were achieved at Sandia in the early 1970s. The NTS events ranged in yield from below 1 ton to 74 kilotons; source altitudes varied from near ground level (including some cratering experiments) to as high as 11 km. The resulting data contain a wealth of information on the source function, yield scaling and regional propagation of infrasound signals from atmospheric explosions. The renewed interest in infrasonic monitoring for CTBT verification has prompted the authors to exhume some of the archived records. The authors plan to digitize the signals from several tests and evaluate their applicability to CTBT issues. In addition, they will collect any existing parametric measurements for these records (arrival times, amplitudes, etc.). All data will be converted to CSS database format and made available to the research community. If appropriate, the resulting information could also be included in the Knowledge Base under development for CTBT monitoring.