Kamchatka Meteoroid Effects in the Lithosphere–Atmosphere–Ionosphere–Magnetosphere System

Abstract

A few physics and mathematics models of the processes in all geospheres that were caused by the fall of the meteoroid has been performed. Mechanical, optical, gas-dynamic, thermodynamic, magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, ionospheric, seismic, plasma, plume, turbulence, acoustic-gravity wave effects that accompanied the fall of the Kamchatka meteoroid have been estimated. The energy release (about 5 × 10¹⁴ J) has been shown to take place mainly at altitudes of 26–30 km, where the rate of mass loss reached about 1 kt/s, and deceleration about 6 km/s². Near the terminal height, the speed of the meteoroid decreased by about 10%, and its mass by 20%. The main parameters of the shock wave have been considered; the energy and power of the shock wave were estimated to be about 580 TJ and 58 TW; near the epicenter of the meteoroid detonation, the pressure at the shock front was ~1 kPa; the perturbations in atmospheric pressure at ionospheric heights above the epicenter of the detonation attained tens and even hundreds of percent. The energy and power of the fireball light were about 130 TJ and 1 PW respectively. The size of the heated region and its temperature (about 4600 K) have been estimated, and the four stages of its cooling have been considered. The main parameters of the debris trail (dust and plasma densities, as well as electric and magnetic field strengths) and the parameters of electromagnetic and Alfvén pulses have been estimated. The mechanisms for the generation of acoustic, atmospheric gravity, ion-acoustic, and magnetosonic waves, as well as instabilities, have been considered. The parameters of the emerging cloud of dust, as well as the duration and rate of its settling, have been estimated.