Ionosphere and Upper Atmosphere

Instrumental recording of electrophonic sounds from Leonid fireballs

  1. Goran Zgrablić1,
  2. Dejan Vinković2,
  3. Silvija Gradečak3,
  4. Damir Kovačić4,
  5. Nikola Biliškov5,
  6. Neven Grbac6,
  7. Željko Andreić7,
  8. Slaven Garaj8

Article first published online: 23 JUL 2002

DOI: 10.1029/2001JA000310

Issue

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics (1978–2012)

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics (1978–2012)

Volume 107, Issue A7, pages SIA 11-1–SIA 11-9, July 2002

Additional Information

How to Cite

Zgrablić, G., D. Vinković, S. Gradečak, D. Kovačić, N. Biliškov, N. Grbac, Ž. Andreić, and S. Garaj, Instrumental recording of electrophonic sounds from Leonid fireballs, J. Geophys. Res., 107(A7), doi:10.1029/2001JA000310, 2002.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Physics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

  2. 2

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

  3. 3

    Centre Interdepartemental de Microscopie Electronique, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

  4. 4

    Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy

  5. 5

    Department of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia

  6. 6

    Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

  7. 7

    Division of Materials Science, Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia

  8. 8

    Department of Physics, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 23 JUL 2002
  2. Article first published online: 23 JUL 2002
  3. Manuscript Revised: 13 NOV 2001
  4. Manuscript Accepted: 13 NOV 2001
  5. Manuscript Received: 23 SEP 2001

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Keywords:

  • meteors;
  • Leonids;
  • electrophonic sounds;
  • ELF/VLF;
  • ionosphere disturbances

[1] Electrophonic meteor sounds, heard simultaneously with the meteor appearance, are a longstanding problem due to their nonintuitive nature. Previous investigations have been undermined by lack of instrumental recordings. Here we present the first instrumental detection of electrophonic sounds obtained during the observation of 1998 Leonids from Mongolia. Two Leonid fireballs of brightness −6.5m and −12m produced short, low-frequency sounds, which were simultaneously recorded by microphones in a special setup and heard by different observers. Simultaneous measurements of electromagnetic ELF/VLF radiation above 500 Hz did not reveal any signal correlated to the electrophonic event. The lack of signal was explained by the low frequency of electrophones. We show that physical characteristics of Leonid electrophones cannot be completely explained by existing theories and that further theoretical refinement and observational work is needed. Finally, we tentatively suggest the possibility of stronger than expected coupling of fireballs with atmospheric charge dynamics and ionosphere.

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