Recent progress in acoustic travel-time tomography of the atmospheric surface layer

Abstract

Acoustic tomography of the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) is based on measurements of the travel times of sound propagation between sources and receivers which constitute a tomography array. Then, the temperature and wind velocity fields inside the tomographic volume or area are reconstructed using different inverse algorithms. Improved knowledge of these fields is important in many practical applications. Tomography has certain advantages in comparison with currently used instrumentation for measurement of the temperature and wind velocity. In this paper, a short historical overview of acoustic tomography of the atmosphere is presented. The main emphasis is on recent progress in acoustic tomography of the ASL. The tomography arrays that have been used so far are discussed. Inverse algorithms for reconstruction of the temperature and wind velocity fields from the travel times are reviewed. Some results in numerical simulations of acoustic tomography of the ASL and reconstruction of the turbulence fields in tomography experiments are presented and discussed.