On June 15, 2009 I revived an e-mail from Dr. Kirstoffer Walker of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography near San Diego, California. Kris stated he had been using the data from the USArray, a large network of seismic and infrasound stations. Kris requested the data recorded by the Sentinel camera. In return Kris shared his data. His results are remarkable and show that the USArray can be a very important tool in locating a fall site and provide an additional source for altitude information.
Kris derived three closely clustered locations, see below, with a 95% confidence ellipse. Note my initial estimation of 166 degrees turned out to be fairly accurate. The ambiguity in exact the location as I understand it, comes from an uncertain of the time accuracy of the sensors as well as my camera’s time stamp. The three loci are calculated for the following event times: 13:30:01 13:30:23 13:30:39 UTC.
Kris produced a very interesting animation of the pressure waves converging as seen by all stations within 250 km of the event.
The altitude estimate are likewise scattered as they are also dependent on the time line:
The British Columbia Meteor Network, with it’s evolving triangulation capability, now has a new tool to aid in fireball analysis and the possibly recovery of meteorites.
To read more about meteors and infrasound please download this pdf. In it you’ll find information on the University of Western Ontario’s Meteor Infrasound Observatory.