A re-analysis of Carancas meteorite seismic and infrasound data based on sonic boom hypothesis

Abstract

Meteoroids entering the Earth atmosphere at high hypersonic velocities are a source of sonic boom that is recorded as infrasound signal at the ground level. The Carancas meteorite (Peru, 2007) is re-examined in this way as a reference case with ground crater and nearby seismic and infrasonic recordings. A new trajectory is proposed for this meteorite by minimizing the difference between computed and observed times of arrivals for geometrical arrivals. A scenario based on diffraction is proposed to explain non-geometrical arrivals. Model frequency spectra show a reasonable agreement with data, which allows estimation of the meteorite diameter in a narrow range compatible with crater observations.