LAUSR

Uncertainties in the state of the atmosphere, to a large extent, limit the prediction accuracy of outdoor sound propagation. In particular, event sound propagation requires accurate knowledge of wind speed and temperature profiles, spatially averaged over the path of propagation. In a stable quasi-steady nocturnal boundary layer, wind speed and temperature gradients follow a scaling that is asymptotically independent of altitude and depends on Monin-Obukhov similarity parameters. Since these parameters describe the near-surface profiles of wind speed and turbulent intensity, which in turn are known to govern wind noise, it is anticipated that a connection exists between Monin-Obukhov parameters and the statistics of wind noise. It is expected that these parameters may be inferred from wind noise sensed by screened microphones. Ambient noise data collected in the southwest U.S. are analyzed for the purpose of examining whether Monin-Obukov similarity parameters may be inferred from wind noise. We explore the consequences of establishing inferences with a priori distributions for the similarity parameters, and utilizing wind noise data from microphones at one or more altitudes.Uncertainties in the state of the atmosphere, to a large extent, limit the prediction accuracy of outdoor sound propagation. In particular, event sound propagation requires accurate knowledge of wind speed and temperature profiles, spatially averaged over the path of propagation. In a stable quasi-steady nocturnal boundary layer, wind speed and temperature gradients follow a scaling that is asymptotically independent of altitude and depends on Monin-Obukhov similarity parameters. Since these parameters describe the near-surface profiles of wind speed and turbulent intensity, which in turn are known to govern wind noise, it is anticipated that a connection exists between Monin-Obukhov parameters and the statistics of wind noise. It is expected that these parameters may be inferred from wind noise sensed by screened microphones. Ambient noise data collected in the southwest U.S. are analyzed for the purpose of examining whether Monin-Obukov similarity parameters may be inferred from wind noise. We explore t...