A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan
Abstract Three mysterious explosion sounds were heard in the coastal towns of Tamsui, west of Taipei in northern Taiwan, in the early evening of December 5, 2013. The event left clear signals that are identified in the recordings of 12 regional seismometers and 3 infrasound sensors and processed by...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2017-05-01
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| Series: | Geoscience Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40562-017-0079-2 |
| _version_ | 1819132798146969600 |
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| author | Utpal Kumar Benjamin F. Chao Yikai Hsieh Emmy T. Y. Chang |
| author_facet | Utpal Kumar Benjamin F. Chao Yikai Hsieh Emmy T. Y. Chang |
| author_sort | Utpal Kumar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Three mysterious explosion sounds were heard in the coastal towns of Tamsui, west of Taipei in northern Taiwan, in the early evening of December 5, 2013. The event left clear signals that are identified in the recordings of 12 regional seismometers and 3 infrasound sensors and processed by means of travel time analysis. The apparent velocity of ~330 m/s of the signals confirms that the energy transmission was through the atmosphere, and the characteristics of the waveforms suggest the meteor-generated shockwaves. We use the graphical method as well as the Genetic Algorithm optimization approach to constrain the trajectory of the meteor and to locate its projected intercept with the ground—(25.33 N, 121.26 E), approximately 20 km off the coast of Tamsui. The trajectory has azimuth (measured from north in a map view in the clockwise direction) of 303° and (near-vertical) elevation angle of 70°. From the observed period of 1.3 s at the maximum amplitude of the infrasound signal, we estimate by conventional scaling law that the meteor in question had impact energy on the order of 5 × 1010 J (equivalent to an earthquake of local magnitude 4) or roughly a size of ~0.5 m across. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T09:37:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e2f54ae35f504c4e84f03c52bd00a7a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2196-4092 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T09:37:07Z |
| publishDate | 2017-05-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geoscience Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-e2f54ae35f504c4e84f03c52bd00a7a42022-12-21T18:30:48ZengSpringerOpenGeoscience Letters2196-40922017-05-01411810.1186/s40562-017-0079-2A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern TaiwanUtpal Kumar0Benjamin F. Chao1Yikai Hsieh2Emmy T. Y. Chang3Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP), Earth System Science (ESS) Program, Academia SinicaInstitute of Earth Sciences, Academia SinicaInstitute of Earth Sciences, Academia SinicaInstitute of Oceanography, National Taiwan UniversityAbstract Three mysterious explosion sounds were heard in the coastal towns of Tamsui, west of Taipei in northern Taiwan, in the early evening of December 5, 2013. The event left clear signals that are identified in the recordings of 12 regional seismometers and 3 infrasound sensors and processed by means of travel time analysis. The apparent velocity of ~330 m/s of the signals confirms that the energy transmission was through the atmosphere, and the characteristics of the waveforms suggest the meteor-generated shockwaves. We use the graphical method as well as the Genetic Algorithm optimization approach to constrain the trajectory of the meteor and to locate its projected intercept with the ground—(25.33 N, 121.26 E), approximately 20 km off the coast of Tamsui. The trajectory has azimuth (measured from north in a map view in the clockwise direction) of 303° and (near-vertical) elevation angle of 70°. From the observed period of 1.3 s at the maximum amplitude of the infrasound signal, we estimate by conventional scaling law that the meteor in question had impact energy on the order of 5 × 1010 J (equivalent to an earthquake of local magnitude 4) or roughly a size of ~0.5 m across.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40562-017-0079-2MeteorShockwaveSeismogramInfrasoundTrajectoryGenetic Algorithm |
| spellingShingle | Utpal Kumar Benjamin F. Chao Yikai Hsieh Emmy T. Y. Chang A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan Geoscience Letters Meteor Shockwave Seismogram Infrasound Trajectory Genetic Algorithm |
| title | A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan |
| title_full | A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan |
| title_fullStr | A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan |
| title_full_unstemmed | A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan |
| title_short | A meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern Taiwan |
| title_sort | meteor shockwave event recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in northern taiwan |
| topic | Meteor Shockwave Seismogram Infrasound Trajectory Genetic Algorithm |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40562-017-0079-2 |
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