Atmospheric shock waves after impacts of cosmic bodies up to 1000 m in diameter

Abstract

The results of numerical modeling of meteoroids' interaction with Earth's atmosphere are presented. We model the entry in two dimensions and then interpolate the results into a 3-D model to calculate interaction of shock waves with the surface. Maximum shock pressures, wind speeds, and areas subjected to substantial overpressure are calculated for oblique impacts of asteroids and comets. We show that vertical impacts produce a smaller damage zone on the surface than oblique ones. Damage caused by shock waves covers an order of magnitude larger area than any other hazardous effects. The function of energy release in the atmosphere, which is traditionally used in meteoritics, has a limited application if cosmic bodies are larger than tens of meters in diameter: at each time moment energy is smoothed along a substantial length of the trajectory; both emitted radiation (routinely used for calibration of semi-analytical models) and shock wave amplitude are complex functions of temperature–density distributions in atmosphere.