If successful, the outcome of the META-FORET project is not limited to the no-matter-how-beautiful idea that a physics phenomenon as complex as metamaterial physics can find a spectacular demonstration at the human scale with an object as natural and as common as a forest of trees. Such a multidisciplinary experiment that combines physics and geophysics that cover scales ranging from micrometer to kilometer will have strong media impact both in the scientific community and with the general public.

First, the French-German TV channel ARTE has proposed two documentaries on the preparation and management of the seismic experiment in the forest of trees. The French channel proposed a documentary in the TV show Xenius/ARTE whereas the German channel was interested in a longer version for the TV show “Quarks & Co“. The journalist in charge of this investigation is Ingo Knopf. Note that the American journalist Phil Mc Kenna received an EGU Fellowship to prepare a report on our forest experiment.

Finally, in terms of outreach and public education, we can also design a smaller-scale experiment on a 10-m diameter thin disk of concrete (width, 10 cm) in which a dense ‘forest’ of vertical metallic bars (length, 3 to 5 m) would be attached as a representation of a collection of buildings in a city. Permanent miniaturized seismic sensors (MEMs mechanical sensors with wireless technology) can then be used to measure in real time the ambient noise on the concrete inside and outside the resonators, and demonstrate frequency bandgaps at the center of the metamaterial. Such a project is easy to design at reasonable cost.

Updated on 10 octobre 2016