Earth particle velocities produced by sonic booms were recorded at Edwards Air Force base, California, at the Tonto Forest Seismological Observatory near Payson, Arizona, and at the Uinta Basin Seismological Observatory near Vernal, Utah. Analysis of the field data indicates that the seismic effects of sonic booms are largely confined, laterally, to the area of the boom pressure envelope and, vertically, to the upper few meters of the earth's surface. The maximum ground particle velocity is associated with the rapid pressure changes of the leading and trailing edges of the acoustic N wave. Within a pressure range up to 25 kg/m2 the maximum ground particle velocity is linearly related to the maximum overpressure of the boom and is also related to the geological properties of the ground. It is independent of the aircraft type, altitude, and speed and is not directly dependent on the temperature, relative humidity, or wind velocity. The maximum ground particle velocity measured was about 600 μ/sec. Focusing of seismic energy propagated from inside the hyperbolic intersection of the shock cone with the ground was not observed. The investigation of propagation of seismic energy from the pressure hyperbola was limited, but it does not appear likely that the maximum amplitude of a propagated seismic wave could approach the amplitudes created by the original N wave.
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McDonald et al. (1969) studied this question.