Infrasound and Seismic Recordings of a US Airstrike on an ISIS Car Bomb Factory on June 3, 2015

Abstract:

Concurrent infrasound and seismic records of a jet airstrike in Iraq are presented. Media reports stated that US jets carried out a large airstrike on June 3, 2015, just after midnight local time, that targeted and destroyed an ISIS car bomb factory in Hawija, Iraq, just south of the city of Kirkuk, Iraq. The resulting explosion was felt within Kirkuk and at other locations as far as 34 km away from the Hawija factory. Seismic broadband stations located in northern Iraq, at a distance of about 160 km, show clear simultaneous signals of infrasound waves on the seismometers as well as on collocated infrasound equipment. From an analysis of the body waves, the Pg to Lg time difference is nearly ~20 sec, with a back azimuth of 250^o to 260^o, which is consistent with explosion location. The time difference between the Pg and infrasound signals is just over 7 minutes, consistent with sound speed in the atmosphere. No clear Rg wave was observed. As was demonstrated by Aleqabi, Wysession, and Ghalib [2015, BSSA, in press], broadband seismic recordings are able to identify and distinguish between several different kinds of MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) and even determine the magnitudes of ordinance used in certain blasts. The addition of collocated infrasound equipment provides additional constraints that can be used in the analysis of the size and form of the MOUT.