Tuesday 10 January 2023

The sound of the wind in the trees

 

A strong wind is blowing today. The sound of the wind in the tall trees is like the sound of the waves on the shore. I did an analysis a few years ago of whether the wind blowing past a wire caused the wire to oscillate like a string on a guitar and thus make a sound. The calculated frequency was so far out that it isn't that. Then I found out about Aeolian harps. The effect is due to vortex shedding. I think that is likely too for these bare tree branches. I recorded the sound and played it into Audacity. Here is the frequency spectrum.

It is certainly not the spectrum for any of the types of noise I posted about a couple of months ago. It peaks at 200Hz. I am now wondering if different types of tree have different spectra.