A study of the acoustic emission from booming sand

Qualitative descriptions of acoustic emissions from booming sand discerned in the field contain a characteristic feature: the perception of a low-frequency beat. The first report on the observation of such beat patterns, obtained in the laboratory from airborne signals produced by small samples of booming sand, was presented by M.F. Leach and G.A. Rubin (see 10th Intern. Acoustic Emission Symp., Sendai, Japan, 1990). Results from this earlier quantitative study are summarized. The study indicates that knowledge of the number of sand particles may also be necessary, if not sufficient, in order to understand booming dunes and to identify the booming mechanism. There are many potential applications of this phenomenon. One of the most interesting is the exploration of extraterrestrial space; whereas booming sand is rare in the terrestrial environment, it may be common in the high-Q soils of the Moon and the near-waterless dune environment of Mars