The Deelen Infrasound Array for recording sonic booms and events of CTBT interest

Abstract

The Seismology Division of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) has built up expertise in infrasound measurements by investigating low frequency events in order to distinguish between seismic and sonic events. KNMI operates, amongst others, a sixteen element microbarometer array with an aperture of 1.5 km, the Deelen Infrasound Array (DIA). Sonic booms and events of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) interest are detected and identified within the frequency range of 500 seconds up to 40 Hertz. Recently, KNMI and Microflown Technologies B.V. started a collaboration concerning infrasound measurements. This paper reports on the use of a novel sensor. The so-called Microflown[I] is a micro-machined particle velocity sensor, sensitive to frequencies from 0Hz up to at least 1kHz. Experiments with the Microflown for infrasound detection show promising results.