Leveraging Interferometric Beamforming to Locate and Track Tornadoes in Infrasound and Seismic Data

Tornadoes are among the most destructive natural disasters, underscoring the critical need for early detection and accurate tracking. While radar remains the primary method of accomplishing this, the performance of radar-based methods is often limited by operational constraints and environmental conditions. A common effect in which radar-based methods are insufficient occurs when a mesocyclone is vertically overshot by the radar beam, or that the scan times affect how long it takes for a tornado to be detected after it has already touched down. This study investigates the feasibility of using publicly-available existing networks of infrasound and seismic sensors to locate and track tornadoes during formation. Previous research has demonstrated that tornadogenesis generates both infrasonic and seismic waves. However, the detection range and relation to the Enhanced Fujita scale remain unclear^1,2. This research explores interferometric beamforming, a technique adapted from radio astronomy, to enhance waveforms detected by ground-based sensors above local background noise and explores the feasibility of locating and tracking tornadoes as they develop³. This technique's effectiveness is evaluated across various distances and tornado intensities.

1. Valovcin, A., & Tanimoto, T. (2017). Modeling the excitation of seismic waves by the Joplin tornado. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(20). https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl074185
2. White, B. C., Elbing, B. R., & Faruque, I. A. (2022). Infrasound measurement system for real-time in situ Tornado Measurements. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 15(9), 2923–2938. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2923-2022
3. Sterpka, C., Dwyer, J., Liu, N., Hare, B. M., Scholten, O., Buitink, S., Veen, S. ter, & Nelles, A. (2021). The spontaneous nature of lightning initiation revealed. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(23). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095511