LaFayette, GA – Researchers with the University of Mississippi’s National Center for Physical Acoustics will be placing a microphone array in Walker County, as part of a tornado detection and warning research program for NOAA.

The microphone array, one of ten being deploy across the Southeast, will be set up on land to the north of the aircraft landing strip at Mountain Cove Farms. The deployment will last about two months.

The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment-Southeast or VORTEX-SE research project aims to identify low-frequency acoustic signals that could be used to help forecasters anticipate, detect, track and warn the public of tornadic activity.

Each array consists of seven independent microphones, designed to record very low frequency sound, below the range of human hearing.

A media availability for those interested in taking pictures or video of the installation will be held this afternoon at the Mountain Cove airstrip. Media can park in the grass across from the strip at 600 Dougherty Gap Road, Chickamauga, GA.

Additional information about the VORTEX-SE program can be found at www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/vortexse