Residents have reported hearing sonic booms over 100 km from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) during rocket launch ascents, particularly at certain times of year—even for similar flight paths. To investigate seasonal influences on sonic boom footprints, a single Falcon 9 launch trajectory was simulated in PCBoom using weather balloon data from 2020–2025. These data, collected twice daily from VSFB, revealed that the boom footprint shifts northward in winter and southward in summer. This seasonal drift leads to stronger overland booms in winter, aligning with resident reports. The findings suggest that adjusting launch azimuths seasonally may help mitigate sonic boom exposure. Work supported by VSFB SLD-30.
Anderson et al. (Wed,) studied this question.