Dynamics of total electron content during the passage and explosion of Chelyabinsk meteoroid
The dynamics of total electron content (TEC) in the ionosphere during the flight and explosion of Chelyabinsk meteoroid on 15 February 2013 has been examined. Disturbances which are typical for acoustic shock wave have been revealed in TEC variations at 02:00-05:00 UT. These disturbances started to be recorded 14 min after the meteoroid explosion. They had the period of about 15 min and the oscillation amplitude of 0.1-0.5 TECU which exceeded the level of background fluctuations during control days. The disturbances have been spreading radially from the explosion center with the horizontal velocity of 320-350 m/s that was close to the sound velocity in the lower atmosphere. At 08:00-09:00 UT, the intensive waveshape TEC disturbances with 30-40 min duration and amplitude of 0.5 TECU and more were recorded at the most of GPS stations under consideration. The question whether this effect is caused by Chelyabinsk meteoroid explosion or it has some other origin needs further study.