Cometary airbursts and atmospheric chemistry: Tunguska and a candidate Younger Dryas event

• Main Authors: Melott, Adrian L., Thomas, Brian C., Dreschhoff, Gisela, Johnson, Carey K.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2009
• Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics astro-ph.EP; Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph; Geophysics physics.geo-ph; FOS Physical sciences; Tunguska; ice core
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0907.1067; https://arxiv.org/abs/0907.1067

We find agreement between models of atmospheric chemistry changes from ionization for the 1908 Tunguska airburst event and nitrate enhancement in GISP2H and GISP2 ice cores, plus an unexplained ammonium spike. We then consider a candidate cometary impact at the Younger Dryas onset (YD). The large es...