A study on variations in excess attenuation due to ground surface and meteorological conditions based on a long-term outdoor sound propagation experiment

From the winter of 2018, outdoor sound propagation experiments (maximum horizontal range: 300 m) have been repeatedly conducted three times a day on weekdays at a glider airfield in Hokkaido, Japan. The ground condition of the experimental field is grass-covered in summer and snow-covered in winter. In each experiment, impulse responses have been measured by time-stretched pulse method and excess attenuation has been obtained at receiving points. Meteorological data at the field has been also measured. Based on the data of excess attenuation collected under various meteorological conditions over a long period, variation in sound propagation characteristics due to the differences in ground surface condition and meteorological condition has been investigated. The numerical analysis based on the GFPE method has been also carried out with changing the parameter of meteorological condition and ground surface condition. By comparing the results with the experimental data, the prediction method of the variations in excess attenuation has been also investigated.