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Ionospheric Disturbances produced by the 2019 Caribbean Meteoroid

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Submitted:

14 November 2024

Posted:

18 November 2024

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Abstract
Extraterrestrial impacts, ranging from minor asteroids to larger bodies, induce varying degrees of atmospheric perturbation, with potential consequences ranging from localized disruptions to global events. This study investigates the ionospheric disturbances caused by a meteoroid impact over the Caribbean Sea on June 22, 2019. Detected by U.S. government sensors and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), the event released approximately 6 kilotons of energy, marking the most energetic meteoroid impact recorded by both databases. We used data from the UNAVCO network of GNSS stations, alongside energy estimates derived from GLM light curves and USG sensors, to identify significant variations in Total Electron Content (TEC) associated with the meteoroid's atmospheric passage. Advanced detrending techniques, including the Savitzky-Golay filter, were employed to enhance wave-like features within the TEC time series, confirming their correlation with the meteoroid event. Additionally, the analysis confirms minimal solar activity during the event, ruling out solar terminator effects as a major contributor to the observed disturbances. This study underscores the need for continued research into ionospheric perturbations from meteoroid impacts, with future work focusing on modeling TID propagation velocity and refining detection techniques using tools such as the Rate of TEC Index (ROTI).
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Subject: Physical Sciences  -   Space Science
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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