Paired summer-winter measurements isolate seasonal effects on forest acoustics

Evidence

In this paper, experiments conducted to measure the effect of a forest and different forest conditions on acoustic pulse propagation are presented and analyzed. Because of our interest in sensor applications, the study is limited to relatively low frequencies from about 10 Hz to 1 kHz (Becker and Gudesen, 2000), and for the short propagation distances used here, meteorological effects are neglected. The measurements were conducted within seven different forest stands and in an open field. These test locations were all situated within 2 km of each other at a rural location in Vermont, northeastern United States. In addition, the measurements were conducted in the summer and repeated in the winter when a snow cover was present on the ground and leaves were absent from the deciduous trees. — Donald G. Albert, Michelle E. Swearingen, Frank E. Perron, and David L. Carbee, Low Frequency Acoustic Pulse…, 32

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Complements the reader’s ‘Grafting & Growth’ piece by documenting deciduous leaf loss as a measurable physical variable rather than a metaphor.