Numerical model to calculate microphysical influences on sound wave propagation in forests

There is a growing need for increasingly accurate and reliable numerical models to predict micrometeorological and turbulence conditions in complex sound wave propagation environments. In this paper, a prototype finite-difference computer model is developed to calculate the microphysical influences on sound speed in forested areas. Several numerical tests are conducted to assess model code capabilities using micrometeorological field data collected in June 2006. For the current analysis, the model domain and total number of grid points are greatly increased from earlier reported versions and the finite-difference numerical schemes for advection are modified to permit different inflow and outflow boundaries. Preliminary results for three cases are encouraging. Micrometeorological profiles and calculated fields of sound speed are presented. Some initial approximations of short-range acoustic transmission loss for the experimental test site are also discussed.