Infrasound from convective storms: Examining the evidence

Two kinds of waves, infrasonic pressure fluctuations recorded on the ground and certain wavelike fluctuations in ionospheric phase height recorded by ground‐based radio sounders, have been independently associated with some severe convective storms. When we compare their phenomenologies, such a remarkable similarity emerges that it is hard to avoid the conclusion that both waves are different manifestations, in different parts of the acoustic spectrum, of the same emission mechanism. We tabulate the constraints each observation imposes on possible source models and estimate the average acoustic power required. A case study of one storm observed with both techniques reinforces the hypothesis of a common emission mechanism.