Using large meteoroids as global infrasound reference events

Abstract:

The explosive fragmentation of large meteoroids entering the Earth’s atmosphere is one of the strongest sources of infrasonic waves and can be detected by infrasound arrays all over the world. Pressure perturbations of the strongest bolide events were detected at distances of thousands of kilometers, while for the 2013 Chelyabinsk superbolide, arrivals at long orthodrome distances (above 20000 km) and after complete circumnavigations of the globe (up to 87000 km) were recorded.

Influence parameters on the detection capability of a single infrasound station on the one hand and of the complete global infrasound network of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) are investigated within this study and applied to a number of strong bolide events of the past 15 years. Potential influences on infrasound detection capability are due to the directivity of the acoustic source energy emission, the long-range ducting via stratosphere and thermosphere and the diurnal change of meteorological parameters and noise conditions at the stations during the signal arrivals.

Since infrasound of large bolides has probably the most similar characteristics to an atmospheric nuclear explosion, it can be utilized as reference event for studies on the global performance of the International Monitoring System (IMS) of the CTBTO. Detections and non-detections of bolide infrasound at the more than 40 operational IMS infrasound stations are studied for the estimation of station and network performance and thus verification of nuclear test ban.