Detection and source parametrization of small-energy fireball events in Western Alps with ground-based infrasonic arrays

Abstract

SUMMARY We present infrasound signals generated by four fireball events occurred in Western Alps between 2016 and 2019 and that were recorded by small aperture arrays at source-to-receiver distances <300 km. Signals consist in a series of short-lived infrasonic arrivals that are closely spaced in time. Each arrival is identified as a cluster of detections with constant wave parameters (backazimuth and apparent velocity), that change however from cluster to cluster. These arrivals are likely generated by multiple infrasonic sources (fragmentations or hypersonic flow) along the entry trajectory. We developed a method, based on 2-D ray tracing and on the independent optically determined time of the event, to locate the source position of the multiple arrivals from a single infrasonic array data and to reconstruct the 3-D trajectory of a meteoroid in the Earth's atmosphere. The trajectories derived from infrasound array analysis are in excellent agreement with trajectories reconstructed from eyewitnesses reports for the four fireballs. Results suggest that the trajectory reconstruction is possible for meteoroid entries located up to ∼300 km from the array, with an accuracy that depends on the source-to-receiver distance and on the signal-to-noise level. We also estimate the energy of the four fireballs using three different empirical laws, based both on period and amplitude of recorded infrasonic signals, and discuss their applicability for the energy estimation of small energy fireball events ($\le 1{\rm{kt\,\,TNT\,\,equivalent}}$).