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A Review of Twenty-Six Years of U.S. Weather Radar Detection of Meteorite FallsWeather radars have proven to be a valuable tool for detection, rapid recovery, and analysis of meteorite falls and fall statistics. The U.S. operates a nationwide weather radar network (NEXRAD) which will be discussed here, but it is important to acknowledge that weather radars operate worldwide and efforts are underway to utilize this rich resource. By the author’s count, since the NEXRAD system came online in the late 1990s it has detected 34 recovered meteorite falls and another 33 unrecovered probable falls. Weather radars are powerful tools because they directly detect meteorites falling after the end of their luminous flight, during the "dark flight" period. This allows rapid recovery through detection and modeling of fall locations down to as little as tens of meters. They are also the only tool that analyzes meteorites that survive their parent fireball, before many or all of them are lost to terrain. This allows direct measurement of meteorite mass, particle size distribution, and with additional work should allow calculation of pre-atmospheric mass and a measure of whole-body strength.
Document ID
20240005795
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Extended Abstract
Authors
M D Fries
(Johnson Space Center Houston, United States)
Date Acquired
May 8, 2024
Publication Date
July 28, 2024
Publication Information
Publisher: The Meteoritical Society
Subject Category
Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: 86th Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society (METSOC)
Location: Brussels
Country: BE
Start Date: July 28, 2024
End Date: August 2, 2024
Sponsors: The Meteoritical Society
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 048290.02.01.01.05
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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