The most powerful meteor air burst in the modern era was the 1908 Tunguska event. During this event a stony meteoroid about 50–60 m (160–200 ft) in size[1][2]: p. 178 exploded at an altitude of 5–10 km (16,000–33,000 ft) over a sparsely populated forest in Siberia. The resulting shock wave flattened an estimated 80 million trees over a 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) area, and may have killed 3 people.[1][3][4][5][6]
Meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere from outer space traveling at speeds of at least 11 km/s (7 mi/s) and often much faster. Despite moving through the rarified upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere the immense speed at which a meteor travels rapidly compresses the air in its path. The meteoroid then experiences what is known as ram pressure. As the air in front of the meteoroid is compressed its temperature quickly rises. This is not due to friction, rather it is an adiabatic process, a consequence of many molecules and atoms being forced to occupy a smaller space. Ram pressure and the very high temperatures it causes are the reasons few meteors make it all the way to the ground. Most simply burn up or are ablated into tiny fragments. Larger or more solid meteorites may explode instead.
Airburst explosions
The use of the term explosion is somewhat loose in this context, and can be confusing. This confusion is exacerbated by the tendency for airburst energies to be expressed in terms of nuclear weapon yields, as when the Tunguska airburst is given a rating in megatons of TNT. Large meteoroids do not explode in the sense of chemical or nuclear explosives. Rather, at a critical moment in its atmospheric entry the enormous ram pressure experienced by the leading face of the meteoroid converts the body's immense momentum into a force blowing it apart over a nearly instantaneous span of time.[7] That is, the mass of the meteoroid suddenly ceases to move at orbital speeds when it breaks up. Conservation of energy implies much of this orbital velocity is converted into heat.
In essence, the meteoroid is ripped apart by its own speed. This occurs when fine tendrils of superheated air force their way into cracks and faults in the leading face's surface. Once this high pressure plasma gains entry to the meteoroid's interior it exerts tremendous force on the body's internal structure. This occurs because the superheated air now exerts its force over a much larger surface area, as when the wind suddenly fills a sail. This sudden rise in the force exerted on the meteoroid overwhelms the body's structural integrity and it begins to break up. The breakup of the meteoroid yields an even larger total surface area for the superheated air to act upon and a cycle of amplification rapidly occurs. This is the explosion, and it causes the meteoroid to disintegrate with hypersonic velocity, a speed comparable to that of explosive detonation.[7]
Frequency
The table from Earth Impact Effects Program (EIEP) estimates the average frequency of airbursts and their energy yield in kilotons (kt) or megatons (Mt) of TNT equivalent.
While airbursts undoubtedly happened prior to the 20th century, reliable reports of such are sparse. A possible example is the Qingyang event of 1490, which had an unknown energy yield but was reportedly powerful enough to cause 10,000 deaths.[10] Modern researchers are sceptical about the figure, but had the Tunguska event occurred over a highly populous district, it might have caused a similar level of destruction.[10] There has also been unofficial speculations that the mysterious 1626 Wanggongchang Explosion in the Ming dynasty capital Beijing, which reportedly killed 20,000 people and was long blamed onto potential mishandling of black gunpowder stored at the local armoury, might actually be a Tunguska-like impact event/air burst that coincidentally happened over a gunpowder factory.[citation needed]
A study published in 2020 claimed that on 22 August 1888, a meteorite killed a man and left another paralyzed in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, as reported by the local governor to Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire.[11]
After 1901
Depending on the estimate, there were only 3–4 known airbursts in the years 1901–2000 with energy yield greater than 80 kilotons (in 1908, 1930?, 1932?, and 1963), roughly consistent with the estimate of the EIEP table. However, the 1963 event may have not been a meteor, but instead a nuclear test. Most values for the 1930 Curuçá River event put it well below 1 megaton, comparable to the Chelyabinsk meteor and Kamchatka superbolide.[12][13][14] The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization and modern technology has improved multiple detection of airbursts with energy yield 1–2 kilotons every year within the last decade.[15]
The first airburst of the 21st century with yield greater than 100 kilotons came from the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor, which had an estimated diameter of 20 metres.
After 2005, but not in JPL reports.
Note: For sorting purposes, location is given in "general:specific" format. For example, "Europe: Spain". This table contains a chronological list of events with a large yield at least 3 kilotons since 2005, with earlier or smaller events included if widely covered in the media.
Airbursts per year
As of January 2020, the number of airbursts each year since 2005, as reported in the JPL Fireball and Bolide Reports are:[15]
^ a bJenniskens, P (2019). "Tunguska eyewitness accounts, injuries and casualties". Icarus. 327: 4–18. Bibcode:2019Icar..327....4J. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2019.01.001. S2CID 127618395.
^de Pater, Imke; Lissauer, Jack (2001). Planetary Sciences. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521482194.
^Gritzner, C (1997). "Human Casualties in Impact Events". WGN. 25: 222. Bibcode:1997JIMO...25..222G.
^Jay, Paul. "The Tunguska event". CBC News. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
^Coppins, Philip. "The Tunguska explosion: an unexpected loud bang and explosion". philipcoppins.com. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
^"Reported Deaths and Injuries from Meteorite Impact". delong.typepad.com. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
^ a bTabetah, M. E.; Melosh, H. J. (March 2018). "Air penetration enhances fragmentation of entering meteoroids". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 53 (3): 493–504. Bibcode:2018M&PS...53..493T. doi:10.1111/maps.13034. ISSN 1086-9379. S2CID 134398508.
^"We are not Alone: Government Sensors Shed New Light on Asteroid Hazards". Universe Today. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
^Robert Marcus; H. Jay Melosh & Gareth Collins (2010). "Earth Impact Effects Program". Imperial College London / Purdue University. Retrieved 2013-02-04. (solution using 2600kg/m^3, 17km/s, 45 degrees)
^ a bYau, Kevin; Weissman, Paul; Yeomans, Donald (1994). "Meteorite Falls in China and Some Related Human Casualty Events". Meteoritics. 29 (6): 864. Bibcode:1994Metic..29..864Y. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.1994.tb01101.x.
^Unsalan, O.; Bayatlı, A.; Jenniskens, P. (2020). "Earliest evidence of a death and injury by a meteorite". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 55 (4). Wiley Online Library: 886–894. Bibcode:2020M&PS...55..886U. doi:10.1111/maps.13469. S2CID 219073273.
^McFarland, John. The Day the Earth Trembled Archived 2013-12-02 at the Wayback Machine, Armagh, Northern Ireland: Armagh Observatory website, last revised on November 10, 2009.
^Lienhard, John H. Meteorite at Curuçá, The Engines of Our Ingenuity, University of Houston with KUHF-FM Houston.
^Corderoa, Guadalupe; Poveda, Arcadio (2011). "Curuça 1930: A probable mini-Tunguska?". Planetary and Space Science. 59 (1): 10–16. Bibcode:2011P&SS...59...10C. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2010.10.012.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak alFireball and Bolide Reports (JPL)
^Traynor, Chris (1997). "The Tunguska Event". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 107 (3).
^Earth quivers as sky phenomenon descends, The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) 1919 Nov 27 page 1b
^Wylie, C. C. (1927). "The Tilden Meteor, an Illinois Daylight Fall". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 21 (1715): 338. Bibcode:1927JRASC..21..338W. doi:10.1126/science.66.1715.451. PMID 17808999.
^ a bTHE EVENT NEAR THE CURUÇÁ RIVER. 67th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting (2004)
^Cordero, Guadalupe; Poveda, Arcadio (2011). "Curuça 1930: A probable mini-Tunguska?". Planetary and Space Science. 59 (1): 10–16. Bibcode:2011P&SS...59...10C. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2010.10.012.
^No. 1102: METEORITE AT CURUÇA By John H. Lienhard The Engines of Our Ingenuity
^The Day the Earth Trembled by John McFarland Archived 2013-12-02 at the Wayback Machine Armagh Observatory
^"O Homem no Espaço: Conhecimento e incerteza".
^Historical Records of δ-Arietids Superfireballs Over Spain by J.M.Madiedo and J. M. Trigo-Rodríguez 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2011)
^Korff, Serge A.; Holden, William H.; Holdridge, Desmond (1939). "Tornado or Meteor Crash?". The Sky. 3 (11): 8–10 + 24.
^anon (1937). "30-mile Path Cut By Meteor in Jungle". The New York Sun (Nov 18): 12 column b.
^Sikhote-Alin at LPIArchived 2012-01-30 at the Wayback Machine
^Leonard David (2013). Russia Meteor Blast Is Biggest in 100 Years
^Norton County at LPI
^"Norton County – Meteorite Recon".
^Soviet Azerbaijan Encyclopedia (Baku, 1981), vol. 5, p. 80
^Yardymly at LPI
^ a b cEdwards, Wayne N.; Brown, Peter G.; Revelle, Douglas O. (2006). "Estimates of meteoroid kinetic energies from observations of infrasonic airwaves" (PDF). Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. 68 (10): 1136–1160. Bibcode:2006JASTP..68.1136E. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2006.02.010.
^ a bSilber, Elizabeth A.; Revelle, Douglas O.; Brown, Peter G.; Edwards, Wayne N. (2009). "An estimate of the terrestrial influx of large meteoroids from infrasonic measurements". Journal of Geophysical Research. 114 (E8). Bibcode:2009JGRE..114.8006S. doi:10.1029/2009JE003334.
^Allen, Robert S. (1963). "Antarctic Explosion Could Have Been Nuclear Detonation". The San Bernardino Sun (Dec 4): 40 column f.
^Revelstoke at LPI
^Kusky, Timothy M.; Katherine E. Cullen (2010). Encyclopedia of Earth and space science. New York, NY: Facts on File. p. 147. ISBN 978-1438128597.
^Halliday, Ian (December 1966). "The Bolide of September 17, 1966". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 60: 257. Bibcode:1966JRASC..60..257H.
^Folinsbee, R. E.; Bayrock, L. A.; Cumming, G. L.; Smith, D. G. W. (1969). "Vilna Meteorite-Camera, Visual, Seismic and Analytic Records". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 63: 61. Bibcode:1969JRASC..63...61F.
^Vilna at LPI
^Grady, Monica (2000). Catalogue of Meteorites. Cambridge University Press. p. 514. ISBN 9780521663038.
^Allende at LPI
^ReVelle, Douglas O. (1997). "Historical Detection of Atmospheric Impacts by Large Bolides Using Acoustic-Gravity Waves" (PDF). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 822 (1): 284–302. Bibcode:1997NYASA.822..284R. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48347.x. S2CID 113319680.
^Meteorite Recon entry on Jilin, A Preliminary Survey Of The Kirin Meteorite Shower, Academia Sinica, October 1976.
^Jilin at LPI
^Kasatkina, E. A.; Shumilov, O. I. (2007). "One more puzzle of the Tunguska catastrophe?". JETP Letters. 85 (4): 216–219. Bibcode:2007JETPL..85..216K. doi:10.1134/S0021364007040078. S2CID 121373132.
^Gujba at LPI
^"JPL Fireball and Bolide Reports".
^"The spectacular airburst over (Lugo) Italy on January 19, 1993" (PDF).
^J.A. Docobo, R.E. Spalding, Z. Ceplecha, F. Diaz-Fierros, V. Tamazian, Y. Onda, "Investigation of a bright flying object over northwest Spain, 1994 January 18", Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Vol. 33.
^Tagliaferri, E.; Spalding, R.; Jacobs, C.; Ceplecha, Z. (1995). "Analysis of the Marshall Islands Fireball of February 1, 1994". Earth, Moon, and Planets (Submitted manuscript). 68 (1–3): 563–572. Bibcode:1995EM&P...68..563T. doi:10.1007/BF00671553. S2CID 119801333.
^"Meteor explodes over el Paso".
^"Greenland meteor". August 19, 2004. Archived from the original on 2004-08-19.
^Kunya-Urgench at LPI
^"Kunya-Urgench – Meteorite Recon".
^"Observation of a fireball and the fall of the first large meteorite in Turkmenistan".
^"July 2002 Asteroid/Comet News".
^ a bBrown, P.; Spalding, R. E.; ReVelle, D. O.; Tagliaferri, E.; Worden, S. P. (2002). "The flux of small near-Earth objects colliding with the Earth". Nature. 420 (6913): 294–296. Bibcode:2002Natur.420..294B. doi:10.1038/nature01238. PMID 12447433. S2CID 4380864. (table #1)
^"Fireball Meteor over southern Yukon, January 18, 2000". www.ufobc.ca.
^ a b c"B612 list of infrasound detections from 2000–2013". Archived from the original on 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
^"Low sounds detect meteor blast". 2001-09-03.
^Near-Earth objects dangerous, general says BBC News, September 9, 2002.
^Cambridge Conference Correspondence. Asteroids 'could spark a nuclear war'
^Vanessa Thomas (2003). Meteorites fall on Chicago suburbs, Astronomy Magazine, March 2003.
^https://www.meteorite-times.com/Back_Links/2005/December/Accretion_Desk.htm Kendrapara, India: A Tale of Modern Day Folklore
^Dhingra, D.; Bhandari, N.; Shukla, P. N.; Murty, S. V. S.; Mahajan, R. R.; Ballabh, G. M.; Lashkari, G.; Shukla, A. D.; Parthasarathy, G. (2004). "Spectacular fall of the Kendrapara H5 chondrite". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 39 (S8): A121–A132. Bibcode:2004M&PS...39..121D. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2004.tb00347.x.
^"CNN.com – Meteorite strikes Indian village – Sep. 28, 2003". edition.cnn.com.
^Cosmic hole-in-one: capturing dust from a meteoroid's fiery demise Australian Antarctic Magazine, issue 8 Autumn 2005
^"'Super-Meteor' Lights up Northern Sky". 29 September 2007.
^"Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Almahata Sitta". www.lpi.usra.edu.
^Brooymans, Hanneke (November 22, 2008). "Hunt on for space rock". The Vancouver Sun. The Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
^"Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Buzzard Coulee". www.lpi.usra.edu.
^ a bYeomans, Don; et al. "Asteroid Impactor Reported over Indonesia". Near Earth Object Program Office. NASA-NEOP. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
^Matthew Moore (2009).South Africa meteor display caught on film, The Telegraph
^T P Cooper (June 2011). "Fireball and Bolide Observations; 2009–2010" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-09-22.
^https://earthsky.org/space/loud-boom-and-bright-fireball-over-california-and-nevada-on-april-22 Booms and fireball over California and Nevada on April 22, 2012 caused by large asteroid
^ a b"Stardust and Sunbreath in the Sutter's Mill Meteorite". 2012-12-20. Archived from the original on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
^"Meteorite strikes central Russia, hundreds injured". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 2013-02-15.
^Shurmina, Natalia; Kuzmin, Andrey. "Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt". Reuters. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
^Atkinson, Nancy (April 23, 2013). "Bright Meteor Rocks Argentina Rock Concert".
^Anne Sutherland (2013-11-28). "Mystery of Tuesday's big boom near Montreal solved". montrealgazette.com. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
^"Meteor strike in Quebec? Bright flash of light and loud boom widely reported". 2013-11-27. Archived from the original on 2013-11-27. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
^"Meteor in Quebec, Ontario". 2013-11-28. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-29. Jaymie Matthews, professor of astrophysics at the University of British Columbia, says a meteor was likely the cause of a strange boom heard Tuesday night in Quebec and Ontario
^"Massive blast heard near Quebec, Ontario border likely a meteor: expert". 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2013-11-29. "[...] This has the hallmark of a meteor blast," said Andrew Fazekas, a spokesman with the Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
^"'Huge flash of blue light' spotted around Montreal, Ottawa most likely a meteor". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 2013-11-27. Archived from the original on 2013-11-27. Retrieved 2013-11-29. Reports have come from throughout the Ottawa region, through Montreal, Laval, and as far south as upper New York state, near the city of Plattsburgh, he said. There have been no reports of damage.
^Siraj, Amir; Loeb, Abraham (2019). "Discovery of a Meteor of Interstellar Origin". The Astrophysical Journal. arXiv:1904.07224. Bibcode:2019arXiv190407224S.
^"Scientists probe meteor link to Argentina explosion". Phys.org. 2014-02-18. INERC
^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RavHx9peVM Meteor Meteor over Bangkok, Thailand, 7 September 2015, youtube.com (video 00:51, 7 sights, review of youtube) 07 September 2015, retrieved 08 September 2015.
^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvBWiz7z6_Y Meteor Fireball Falls in Bangkok Thailand 09/07/201 (Different Angles) VIDEO, youtube.com (video 04:04, 2 sights, repeated) 07 September 2015, retrieved 08 September 2015.
^"Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Kamargaon". www.lpi.usra.edu.
^"Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Sariçiçek". www.lpi.usra.edu.
^Thomas Seibert (2015). A Meteorite Saved My Town, Dec 12, 2015.
^Paul Rincon (2016).Large space rock burns up over Atlantic, BBC News
^https://www.amsmeteors.org/2016/05/huge-fireball-over-northeastern-us/ Huge Fireball over Northeastern US
^"Fragments of meteor up for grabs in Lapland wilderness". 22 November 2017.
^"Watch: Meteor lights up night sky as it crashes over Finland". 2017-11-18.
^Nov 16th fireball over far northern Scandinavia – W. Randy Bell
^Dec 15th #fireball over Kamchatka detected at 11 #CTBTO infrasound stations – W. Randy Bell
^https://www.imo.net/daytime-fireball-over-russia-on-june-21/ Daytime Fireball over Russia on June 21
^https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-exploded-disintegrated-over-russia-june-21-2018 Fragments found for small asteroid that exploded over Russia
^"US detects huge meteor explosion". BBC News. March 18, 2019.
Further reading
Brown, P. G.; Assink, J. D.; Astiz, L.; Blaauw, R.; Boslough, M. B.; Borovička, J.; Brachet, N.; Brown, D.; Campbell-Brown, M.; Ceranna, L.; Cooke, W.; de Groot-Hedlin, C.; Drob, D. P.; Edwards, W.; Evers, L. G.; Garces, M.; Gill, J.; Hedlin, M.; Kingery, A.; Laske, G.; Le Pichon, A.; Mialle, P.; Moser, D. E.; Saffer, A.; Silber, E.; Smets, P.; Spalding, R. E.; Spurný, P.; Tagliaferri, E.; et al. (2013). "A 500-kiloton airburst over Chelyabinsk and an enhanced hazard from small impactors". Nature. 503 (7475): 238–241. Bibcode:2013Natur.503..238B. doi:10.1038/nature12741. hdl:10125/33201. PMID 24196713. S2CID 4450349.
de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R. (2015). "Recent multi-kiloton impact events: are they truly random?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 446 (1): L31–L35. arXiv:1409.0452. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.446L..31D. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slu144. S2CID 118467101.
Yau, Kevin; Weissman, Paul; Yeomans, Donald (1994). "Meteorite falls in China and some related human casualty events". Meteoritics. 29 (6): 864–871. Bibcode:1994Metic..29..864Y. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.1994.tb01101.x. ISSN 0026-1114.
External links
Asteroid Impacts on Earth More Powerful than Nuclear Bomb (YouTube)
Asteroid impacts larger than 1 kiloton of TNT
New Map Shows Frequency of Small Asteroid Impacts, Provides Clues on Larger Asteroid Population (Bolide events from 1994 to 2013 for asteroids ~1+ meter in diameter)
Fireball and Bolide Reports (JPL)
Newspaper archives drop hints about the Chelyabinsk event and other superbolides