Acoustic remote sensing of the atmosphere

摘要

A systematic brief review to acoustic remote sensing of the atmosphere is given in the present article. Corresponding to a view suggested by the author that atmospheric acoustics can be divided into two categories as "classical" and "modern", the acoustic remote sensing of the atmosphere can also be divided into two similar respects as lower- and upper-atmospheric sensing. The former being based on the scattering of sound waves from "micro-structure" of the atmosphere deals with active sensing for audible sound mainly; while the latter being based on the refraction of sound waves through "macro-structure" of the atmosphere deals with passive sensing for infrasound mainly. To both categories, this review outlines the principles of technology, the detecting equipment and the major observations respectively.