• Main Authors: Linda Martel, Cari Corrigan
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.681.3296; http://www.elementsmagazine.org/archives/e9_3/e9_3_dep_cosmoelements.pdf

the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, sent a shock wave across the region. The bright fi reball (FIG. 1) was seen by numerous observers in parts of the Kurgan, Tyumen, Ekaterinburg, and Chelyabinsk districts. The shock wave, resulting from the explosive deceleration and breakup of the meteoroid in the Earth’s atmosphere, caused structural damage to buildings, shattered windows, and injured an estimated 1200 people in the city of 1.1 million. A part of the roof and a wall of a zinc plant and a stadium in Chelyabinsk were also damaged. The Chelyabinsk event was literally heard around the world. Infrasound stations (a network associated with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO) detected the very low-frequency sound waves of the meteor blast. According to a CTBTO press release (www.ctbto. org/press-centre/press-releases/2013/russian-fireball-largest-ever-detected-by-ctbtos-infrasound-sensors), the infrasonic waves from the Chelyabinsk meteor blast were the largest ever recorded by their International Monitoring System, which included readings from stations in Hawai‘i and near the antipode in Antarctica. The infra-sonic signals were used to help determine the size and velocity of the incoming meteoroid, the direction it traveled, and the energy released when it exploded over Russia. Preliminary indications reported by NASA Science News