Geomagnetic Variations during the Fall of Meteorites

Abstract

The results of instrumental observations of variations in the Earth’s magnetic field conducted at a number of observatories of the INTERMAGNET network and the Mikhnevo geophysical observatory of Institute of Geosphere Dynamics of Russian Academy of Sciences, during the fall of meteorites have been analyzed. The Vitim (September 24, 2002), Chelyabinsk (February 15, 2013), Romania (January 7, 2015), Buryatia (October 25, 2016), Khakassia (December 6, 2016), St. Petersburg (September 11, 2017), and Lipetsk (June 21, 2018) events have been used to show the geomagnetic effect of falling cosmic bodies. The effect has a nonlocal character, occurs simultaneously, and is observed at distances up to 7000 km from the location of falling cosmic bodies. The amplitude of induced geomagnetic variations has been found to depend weakly on the distance to the event location. The resulting data can be used to verify theoretical and computational models of the geophysical processes accompanying the fall of meteorites.