Megacryometeor

A megacryometeor (for example: giant ice meteor ) is very similar in appearance, chemical composition and isotope combination to a large hailstone . But it is much larger and forms under different atmospheric conditions.

The name was coined by the Spanish planetologist Jesus Martinez-Frías from the Institute for Astrobiology in Madrid. He has been working on this topic since January 2000, when a soccer-sized megacryometeor weighing approx. 2 kg smashed the windshield of a car in Tocina ( Andalusia ), and that with a clear sky. There were a number of similar cases in the days that followed. There are now reports of this phenomenon from other countries. Although hailstones can get very large - 25 dead in a hailstorm in China in 2002 - megacryometeors fall into a different category because of their size. They are sometimes confused with meteorites , as they can form small craters on impact.

The occurrence of such giant hailstones is doubted by various meteorologists.

size

More than 50 megacryometeors have been reported since 2000. Your weight is normally between 0.5 and more than 50 kg. It was reported from Brazil that in 1993 a 50 kg and a 200 kg piece each fell from the sky. The largest known megacryometeor weighed over 400 kg and hit Toledo on July 21, 2004 .

Emergence

The formation of megacryometeors has not yet been adequately clarified; several mechanisms are being discussed. Analyzes have shown that the meteors consist of normal rainwater. Megacryometeors have nothing to do with the chunks that sometimes fall out of broken aircraft toilets. In 2007 there were 52 cases of giant hailstones in the UK and only one could be assigned to an airplane toilet, easily identified by the blue color from the disinfectant.

One guess is that they form like hail. According to other considerations, they should form when the tropopause fluctuates .

In April 2010 an approx. 50 kg heavy specimen hit a suburb of Würzburg. According to investigations by the private Institute for Weather and Climate Communication (Hamburg), the time and boundary conditions of the impact correlated very well with the overflight of a Boeing 737-700 aircraft. The composition corresponded to that of rainwater, so it could be atmospheric water vapor condensed on the machine.

swell

↑ Jesus Martinez-Frías et al .: Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotopic Signatures of Large Atmospheric Ice Conglomerations ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2 archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( PDF file , 836 kB), Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 52 No. 2, 2005, pp. 185–202 ( abstract ( memento of the original from October 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet Checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; English) @1@ 2

↑ Xavier Bosch: Great Balls of Ice! ( PDF file, 70 kB), Science , Vol. 297, August 2, 2002 (English)

↑ Ed Douglas: Mystery of the monster hailstones , New Scientist 2635, December 23, 2007, pp. 48–50 (English)

↑ Jesus Martinez-Frias, Antonio Delgado Huertas: Megacryometeors: Distribution on Earth and Current Research ( Memento of the original of July 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2 archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( PDF file, 190 kB), Ambio 35 No. 6, September 2006, pp. 314–316 (English)