The 1998 Miyako fireball's trajectory determined from shock wave records of a dense seismic array

Abstract

A high velocity passage of a meteoroid through the atmosphere generates a shock wave with a conical front. When the shock front arrives at the surface, it causes high frequency ground motions that are registered on the seismograms. We can use seismological data to determine the trajectory of the meteoroid in the atmosphere. A strong shock wave from the 1998 Miyako fireball is recorded by more than 20 stations in a dense array of seismographs installed in the northeastern region of Honshu Island, Japan. We determine the velocity and the trajectory of the fireball in the upper atmosphere using the arrival times of the shock wave at the stations. Copyright © The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences.