Remote Sensing Surface Explosions with an Ionospheric Doppler Radar

We present Doppler radar measurements of the lower ionosphere (~100 km) which show strong impacts from infrasound generated by 1 ton TNT equivalent explosives. The explosives were detonated at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) test range just west of Socorro. We present three different experiments spanning 2019 to 2022. For each experiment we used multiple receivers spread over a few hundred km and a pulsed Doppler radar operating between 2 and 4 MHz. Each receiver provided a unique measurement of the displacement of an ionospheric isodensity layer. As infrasound waves from the explosives reach the ionosphere they displace the electrons, producing a detectable signature. We find that the detectability of each shot depended strongly on the geometry of the sounder/receiver and is likely influenced by wind filtering and/or terrain features. SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525