The acoustic field in the ionosphere caused by an underground nuclear explosion

The problem of describing the generation and propagation of an infrasonic wave emitted by a finite extended source in the inhomogeneous absorbing atmosphere is the focus of this paper. It is of interest since the role of infrasonic waves in the energy balance of the upper atmosphere remains largely unknown. We present an algorithm, which allows adaptation of a point source model for calculating the infrasonic field from an underground nuclear explosion at ionospheric altitudes. Our calculations appear to agree remarkably well with HF Doppler sounding data measured for underground nuclear explosions at the Semipalatinsk Test Site. We show that the temperature and ionospheric electron density perturbation caused by an acoustic wave from underground nuclear explosion can reach 10% of background levels.