Soundscape: Paranal exterior night wind

Observatories located on mountain tops, like Paranal, can get quite windy. This sound broadcasts the wind during a quiet night with normal wind conditions, recording the waving leaves of a bunch of trees outside the Residencia.

Windspeed alerts are given to the staff by the Safety team when wind appears, accompanied by a series of recommendations as follows:

• Green alert (<50 km/h): no restrictions.
• Yellow alert (>=50 km/h): no works at altitude, no lifting operations outdoors.
• Orange alert (>=80 km/h): no works outside, no vehicles on the platform, avoid walking on platform (use tunnels), be careful when opening car doors, drive slower than usual, no loose or light material on the platform.
• Red alert (>=100 km/h): platform is closed, driving only for operational necessity, avoid being outside, beware of flying particles and objects.

When the wind speed is larger than 43 km/h, the telescopes must point at least 90 degrees away from wind direction. The telescope will be closed for wind speed larger than 64 km/h.