A research shared that the 10,000-ton Russian meteor that crashed early this year had produced shockwaves strong enough to make two trips around the globe.
The researchers analyzed the data from 20 infrasonic stations operated by the International Monitoring System (IMS) to arrive with this conclusion. The recent Russian meteor is second in history wherein a crash resulted to multiple shockwaves captured by the infrasonic stations. The first event was the in 1908 when a meteor crashed in Tunguska which knocked down 80 million trees near the river.
A shockwave is a circulating disturbance which carries energy in various forms passing an electromagnetic field. The Russian meteor has a stronger energy than the Tunguska meteor which experts estimated to be equivalent to 30 Hiroshima atomic bombs. In fact, when the Russian meteor crashed, the shock wave caused broken glasses flying in the metropolitan injuring over 1,500 people.
After estimating the power of the Russian meteor shockwave, the researchers agreed that further analysis of infrasound propagation or shockwave is needed for the future certification of the Comprehensive-Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The CTBT is an agreement in which states agreed to ban all nuclear explosions in the environment for both military and civilian purposes.
The Russian meteor shockwave was able to circle the globe twice which means that if the government will keep on testing nuclear explosives, they may not be aware that the impact is traveling more than the perimeters they have calculated. To date, over 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed in different areas of the world. Advocates had been protesting against this test due to possible negative effects to the atmosphere which can be fatal to humans. There were other studies associating skin and gall bladder damages due to shockwaves.
The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
