Chelyabinsk Airburst, Damage Assessment Meteorite Recovery, and Characterization

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 342; no. 6162; pp. 1069 - 1073
• Main Authors: Popova, Olga P., Jenniskens, Peter, Emel'yanenko, Vacheslav, Kartashova, Anna, Biryukov, Eugeny, Khaibrakhmanov, Sergey, Shuvalov, Valery, Rybnov, Yurij, Dudorov, Alexandr, Grokhovsky, Victor I., Badyukov, Dmitry D., Yin, Qing-Zhu, Gural, Peter S., Alters, Jim, Granvik, Mikael, Evers, Läslo G., Kuiper, Jacob, Kharlamov, Vladimir, Solovyov, Andrey, Rusakov, Yuri S., Korotkiy, Stanislav, Serdyuk, Ilya, Korochantsev, Alexander V., Larionov, Michail Yu, Glazachev, Dmitry, Mayer, Alexander E., Gisler, Galen, Gladkovsky, Sergei V., Wimpenny, Josh, Sanborn, Matthew E., Yamakawa, Akane, Verosub, Kenneth L., Rowland, Douglas J., Roeske, Sarah, Botto, Nicholas W., Friedrich, Jon M., Zolensky, Michael E., Le, Loan, Ross, Daniel, Ziegler, Karen, Nakamura, Tomoki, Ahn, Insu, Lee, Jong Ik, Zhou, Qin, Li, Xian-Hua, Li, Qiu-Li, Liu, Yu, Tang, Guo-Qiang, Hiroi, Takahiro, Sears, Derek, Weinstein, Ilya A., Vokhmintsev, Alexander S., Ishchenko, Alexei V., Schmitt-Kopplin, Phillipe, Hertkorn, Norbert, Nagao, Keisuke, Haba, Makiko K., Komatsu, Mutsumi, Mikouchi, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 29-11-2013; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Accidents; Air; Altitude; Asteroids; Chondrites; Earth; Explosions; Fire damage; Fireballs; Geophysics; Impact analysis; Kinetic energy; Literary Devices; Meteorites; Meteoroids; Meteors & meteorites; Paleoclimate science; RESEARCH ARTICLE; Russia; Shock waves; Studies; Trajectories; Russia; INW, Russia, Primorskiy, Petra Velikogo Bay, Amurskiy Bay, Popova
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1242642

The asteroid impact near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on 15 February 2013 was the largest airburst on Earth since the 1908 Tunguska event, causing a natural disaster in an area with a population exceeding one million. Because it occurred in an era with modern consumer electronics, field sensors, and laboratory techniques, unprecedented measurements were made of the impact event and the meteoroid that caused it. Here, we document the account of what happened, as understood now, using comprehensive data obtained from astronomy, planetary science, geophysics, meteorology, meteoritics, and cosmochemistry and from social science surveys. A good understanding of the Chelyabinsk incident provides an opportunity to calibrate the event, with implications for the study of near-Earth objects and developing hazard mitigation strategies for planetary protection.