Global detection of infrasonic signals from three large bolides

Abstract

We present the infrasonic observations of three large bolides that were observed at numerous International Monitoring System (IMS) infrasound arrays on a global scale. First, a simple procedure for the global association of infrasound detections from large infrasound events is outlined. Infrasound signals are associated with large events based on arrival time, backazimuth and uniqueness at a given IMS array. Next, we apply the algorithm to three bolides and investigate some of the factors affecting the detectability of infrasound from large events. Our findings suggest that site-noise effects significantly degrade the capability of the IMS infrasound network, suggesting that more effort is required to reduce ambient site noise. These results have implications for the use of infrasound measurements (in particular those from IMS stations) as a tool for evaluating the global flux of near-Earth objects. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.