Infrasound and seismic detections associated with the 7 September 2015 Bangkok fireball

Corentin Caudron,Benoit Taisne,Pierrick Mialle,Milton Garcés,Elizabeth A Silber,Anna Perttu

doi:10.1186/s40562-016-0058-z

Corentin Caudron, Benoit Taisne + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40562-016-0058-z

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Abstract

A bright fireball was reported at 01:43:35 UTC on September 7, 2015 at a height of $$\sim$$ 30 km above 14.5 $$^{\circ }$$ N, 98.9 $$^{\circ }$$ E near Bangkok, Thailand. It had a TNT yield equivalent of 3.9 kilotons (kt), making it the largest fireball detected in South–East Asia since the $$\sim$$ 50 kt 2009 Sumatra bolide. Infrasonic signals were observed at four infrasound arrays that are part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) and one infrasound array located in Singapore. Acoustic bearings and event origin times inferred from array processing are consistent with the eyewitness accounts. A seismic signal associated with this event was also likely recorded at station SRDT, in Thailand. An acoustic energy equivalent of 1.15 ± 0.24 kt is derived from the Singaporean acoustic data using the period of the peak energy.

Highlights

Amateur videos in Bangkok (Thailand) and the surrounding towns of Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Ratchasima, captured the fall of a meteor on September 7, 2015. This fireball, with estimated energy of 3.9 kilotons TNT equivalent is the largest meteoritic event recorded in South East Asia since the extraordinary October 8, 2009 bolide over Indonesia, which released energy 50 kt TNT equivalent (1 TNT = 4.184 × 1012 J) (Silber et al 2011)
An impressive bolide was witnessed in broad daylight over Bangkok (Thailand) and surrounding areas on September 7, 2015
An infrasound array located in Singapore (∼1000 km from the hypothesized source region) detected the acoustic signal along with five other more distal International Monitoring System (IMS) stations

Summary

Introduction

Amateur videos in Bangkok (Thailand) and the surrounding towns of Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Ratchasima, captured the fall of a meteor on September 7, 2015. This fireball, with estimated energy of 3.9 kilotons (kt) TNT equivalent (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/) is the largest meteoritic event recorded in South East Asia since the extraordinary October 8, 2009 bolide over Indonesia, which released energy 50 kt TNT equivalent (1 TNT = 4.184 × 1012 J) (Silber et al 2011). Records of significant impacts are rare and primarily occur over open ocean where much of the energy can be only estimated from

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