Speaker
Description
Weather radars have proven to be one of the most useful tools available for meteorite fall detection and analysis. This talk will describe the use of weather radars in the U.S. national weather radar network (NEXRAD) and smaller airport radars (TDWR) for detection and analysis of meteorite falls. To date, approximately 60 distinct meteorite falls have been identified using these systems using data going back to 1997. Notably, this suite includes several events that would have otherwise remained unrecovered without weather radar data.
Beyond simple geolocation, these radar signatures provide rich datasets for physical analysis. By computing dark flight trajectories, strewn fields, and meteorite mass derived from fall dynamics, we can extract quantitative measures or estimates that include the total fall mass, the pre-atmospheric mass, and the parent body's whole-body toughness. Work is currently underway to identify the meteorite type as well. This will be especially useful for building fall statistics with events where no meteorites are recovered, which currently makes up about a third of the falls to date. Overall, weather radars provide a unique analytical tool exploring the physical properties, flux, and threat posed by meter-scale meteoroids that actually strike the Earth.
Since these radars operate around the clock, it is theoretically possible to derive rapid notification of both meteorite and space debris falls from a combination of weather radar, eyewitness reports, lightning sensor, and other data sources.This talk will explore both current capabilities and future potential for both meteorite fall detection, analysis, and rapid recovery of fallen material. This talk will also briefly discuss space debris falls, which are also detectable using weather radars.