Work

Cyclic Background Noise Variations on Infrasound Microbarometers From Micrometeorology and Human Activity

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Infrasound microbarometers deployed on the Earth's surface capture pressure fluctuations and acoustic signatures, revealing trends in surface wind speed and cycles in ambient sound. Previous studies investigated wind noise trends at quarter day resolution and urban acoustic background variations on hourly to weekly scales. Cyclic variations at sub‐hourly resolution over local distances remain unaddressed. We show that topography‐driven micrometeorology impacts diurnal background noise levels below 10 Hz. Anthropogenic noise occurs over daily and weekly cycles, with inputs from traffic, ventilation systems, and power lines. These noise patterns vary at stations spaced less than a kilometer apart. We observe these phenomena by using a circular spectrogram to visualize frequency trends over a periodic temporal scale. This study demonstrates that infrasound microbarometer deployments can highlight localized wind patterns and time scales of human activity. The results suggest that future microbarometer deployments may benefit from site noise surveys before selecting final sensor locations.

Source: Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: 10.1029/2025gl116415