Tunguska: One Blast. 80 Million Trees. No Crater.Episode 91:42
The Plume That Climbed 100 Kilometers
Airburst models reconstruct an object vaporizing high above Siberia and sending its aftermath toward Europe.
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Transcript
A herder was blown into a tree—and later died.
Above remote Siberia, the event struck about 7:15 a.m. on June 30th, 1908.
Evenki witnesses saw a smoke-trailing fireball, then heard it explode.
The flash outshone the Sun; nearby people rose into the air unconscious.
A Vanavara witness reported broken panes and a broken iron hasp.
Seismic instruments hundreds of miles away recorded tremors from the shock wave.
Millions of trees fell across a butterfly-shaped, 830-square-mile destruction zone.
Modern models place 10–20 megatons in an airburst about 6 miles, or 10 kilometers, high.
Kulik was sent toward the site in 1921, but inaccessible terrain stopped him.
He reached the site in 1927 and found burned trees stripped of branches and bark.
Semyonov later said he saw the northern sky split apart and fire above the forest.
No crater or sufficient meteoritic material puzzled investigators.
One explanation was atmospheric erasure: a mid-air explosion vaporized the object.
Russian models traced an oblique stone entry, vaporizing it about four–five miles (six–eight kilometers) high.
Vaporized rock and water may have risen 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, then drifted northwest.
That plume model matched bright skies reported across northern Europe for several nights.
Where it leaves off
In 1993, three researchers would finally force the choice between an icy comet and an exploding stone.
Sources
- 1908 SIBERIA EXPLOSION: Reconstructing an Asteroid Impact from Eywitness Accounts - Planetary Science Institutepsi.edusecondary
- 115 Years Ago: The Tunguska Asteroid Impact Event - NASAnasa.govsecondary
- NASA/Technical Memorandum (NASA/TM--220174) 2018ntrs.nasa.govsecondary
- Vurdalak | Witness: S. B. Semyonovvurdalak.comprimary
- AN ARCHIVAL AND ORAL HISTORY OF THEhou.usra.edusecondary
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