POMA Captures Meeting Momentum

Helen Wall Murray

POMA Manuscript Manager

helenwallmurray@acousticalsociety.org

Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) is a benefit to all ASA Meeting attendees, not just because it offers a rapid publication path for articles based on presentations and posters, but because it serves as the collective record for preliminary investigations, initial findings, case studies, hot topics and timely research, as well as the ongoing global conversation shared by ASA members and the wider acoustics community at the time of a conference.  Each Volume of POMA provides a snapshot of an ASA meeting past and present.

The 184th Meeting of Acoustical Society of America which took place in Chicago earlier this month felt very much like a throwback meeting:  More than 1,000 presentations were scheduled in the program; attendees were seen navigating the floor/room maps, occupying escalators and elevators in swift pursuit of the next session or presentation; seats were quite full at society-wide events; energy levels were high and attitudes ambitious. An outsider might very well have inquired, What’s all the rush about?  Well, the answer remains quite simple: Five days designed specifically for sharing and observing cutting-edge research and in-depth analysis related to and focused on the broad-ranging science of acoustics.

But, even the most ambitious of attendees may not have been able to share and absorb all of the information that they intended to express or capture during the 5-day meeting. POMA, by design, provides the ideal solution. Turn your talk or poster into a written article. Create a record of your research for all to read and revisit.

Currently POMA is receiving papers from the 184th Meeting as well as papers from all past ASA Meetings. The submission portal is simple and quick and formatting instructions and templates are available in both Word and LaTeX. In principle, any article based on an oral presentation or poster delivered at any ASA meeting is eligible for publication in POMA. Manuscripts are reviewed from the standpoints of clarity and correctness by an outstanding team of Associate Editors and are published online shortly after being accepted. You can learn more about the components of a good POMA article from our POMA Editor and Associate Editors.

Good News for ASA Students!

POMA is holding its 3rd society-wide Student Paper Competition for a POMA submission based on a presentation or poster from the Chicago meeting.

Up to five student papers will receive an award of USD $300. Additionally, the student paper winners will be noted on the POMA cover page and their articles will be promoted in email and social media campaigns.

Qualifications:
To qualify for the award, an author must:

  • be enrolled as a student at least half-time (graduates are eligible if the presented work was performed as a student within one year of the meeting). Note that the student author does not need to be a member of the ASA to qualify.
  • be listed as the first author on the submitted abstract and POMA manuscript and present the paper at the meeting.
  • submit the POMA manuscript by the competition deadline, which is 30 days after the conclusion of the meeting. For this meeting, manuscripts must be submitted on or before 11 June 2023.

To enter: Indicate your paper is part of the POMA Student Paper Competition by selecting this option during the POMA submission process.

Selection: The papers will be rated by the POMA Associate Editor corresponding the technical area in which the paper was presented. The top related papers will be evaluated by the POMA Editor, POMA Assistant Editor, and POMA Manuscript Manager and up to five winning papers will be selected.

Additional Instructions

  • To ensure the article passes the initial quality check, please follow all manuscript preparation and submission instructions.  See also the submission checklist.
  • The competition deadline is 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time, 11 June 2023.  Any manuscripts received after this will be considered for publication in POMA but will be ineligible for the competition.
  • Regardless of the competition outcome, the opportunity to publish an editor-reviewed proceedings paper will enhance your CV/resume and help you take an important intermediate step toward a peer-reviewed publication.

To hear interviews with the winners of the past two POMA Student Paper Competitions visit Across Acoustics, the official Podcast of the ASA.

As always, we look forward to receiving your POMA submissions and thank you for your past contributions!

Noise reduction for low frequency sound measurements from balloons on Venus

Taylor Swaim – tswaim@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078
United States

Kate Spillman
Emalee Hough
Zach Yap
Jamey D. Jacob
Brian R. Elbing (twitter: @ElbingProf)

Popular version of 2pCA6 – Infrasound noise mitigation on high altitude balloons
Presented at the 184 ASA Meeting
Read the article in Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

While there is great interest in studying the structure of Venus because it is believed to be similar to Earth, there are no direct seismic measurements on Venus. This is because the Venus surface temperature is too hot for electronics, but conditions are milder in the middle of the Venus atmosphere. This has motivated interest in studying seismic activity using low frequency sound measurements on high altitude balloons. Recently, this method was demonstrated on Earth with weak earthquakes being detected from balloons flying at twice the altitude of commercial airplanes. Video 1 shows a balloon launch for these test flights. Due to the denser atmosphere on Venus, the coupling between the Venus-quake and the sound waves should be much greater, which will make the sound louder on Venus. However, the higher density atmosphere combined with vertical changes in wind speed is also likely to increase the amount of wind noise on these sensor. Thus development of a new technology to reduce wind noise on a high altitude balloon is needed.

Video 1. Video of a balloon launch during the summer of 2021. Video courtesy of Jamey Jacob.

Several different designs were proposed and ground tested to identify potential materials for compact windscreens. The testing included a long-term deployment outdoors so that the sensors would be exposed to a wide range of wind speeds and conditions. Separately, the sensors were exposed to controlled low-frequency sounds to test if the windscreens were also reducing the loudness of the signals of interest. All of the designs showed significant reduction in wind noise with minimal reduction in the controlled sounds, but one design in particular outperformed the others. This design uses a canvas fabric on the outside of a box as shown in the Figure 1 combined with a dense foam material on the inside.

Figure 1. Picture of balloon carrying the low frequency sound sensors. Compared an early design to no windscreen with this flight. Image courtesy of Brian Elbing.

The next step is to fly this windscreen on a high altitude balloon, especially on windier days and with a long flight line to increase the amount of wind that the sensors will experience. The wind direction at the float altitude of these balloons will change in May and then rapidly increase, which this will be the target window to test this new design.

ASA Meetings and publishing

Did you know that by attending and presenting at ASA meetings, you unlock different publishing benefits? If you’ll be attending the 184th ASA Meeting in Chicago, Illinois 8–12 May 2023, be sure to take advantage of these benefits and opportunities!

Everybody attending the 184th ASA meeting is welcome to check out a special workshop: Providing and Responding to Constructive Reviews. Although everyone receives reviews when publishing scientific work, criticism can be challenging to accept and respond to. Providing constructive criticism can sometimes be as tricky as accepting it. This workshop is intended for writers and reviewers alike and will be held on Wednesday, 10 May, 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Using provided examples of scientific writing submissions and reviews, participants will practice writing and responding to reviews. Experienced authors, reviewers, and editors, including James Lynch, Editor in Chief of ASA, will provide assistance and insight.

For those presenting at the meeting, one the primary benefits is that you can publish in ASA’s Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA). POMA manuscripts are reviewed from the standpoints of clarity and correctness by an Associate Editor and are published online shortly after being accepted. In case you didn’t know…

  • it’s free to submit but you must present at the meeting.
  • there is no submission deadline!
  • POMA has Word and LaTeX manuscript templates.
  • published papers are indexed in scholarly venues and highlighted on social media.

By the way, since there is no deadline for POMA, papers from any prior ASA meeting or from designated cosponsored conferences are still eligible for submission!

Bonus benefit: Special session organizers at ASA meetings can submit summaries of sessions! These POMA articles provide a written, archived record of important sessions that honor colleagues, provide historical perspectives, and detail research advances in technical specialties and new topics.

Visit http://asa.scitation.org/pma/authors/manuscript for additional information, including recent changes to the manuscript preparation/submission process.

Plus, POMA holds a society-wide student paper competition! Not only will the student winners receive $300 USD, but their articles will also be noted on the POMA cover and promoted in email and social media campaigns! The submission deadline for the Chicago meeting is 11 June 2023. Find out more about the competition, including qualifications and how to enter here: http://acousticalsociety.org/chicago-2023.

Last, but certainly not least, meeting presenters can contribute to the ASA Lay Language Paper (LLP) program to share acoustics news with science reporters and journalists. LLPs are short summaries of presentations which are on the ASA online news site acoustics.org. Check out this style guide to learn how to write and submit your LLP: https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/lay-language-paper-style-guide/

We hope to see you in Chicago! For those of you who can’t attend in person, be sure to follow us on social media for meeting highlights!