Meteor air burst

Despite moving through the rarified upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere the immense speed at which a meteor travels rapidly compresses the air in its path.

Rather, at a critical moment in its atmospheric entry the enormous ram pressure experienced by the leading face of the meteoroid converts the body's immense momentum into a force blowing it apart over a nearly instantaneous span of time.

Once this high pressure plasma gains entry to the meteoroid's interior it exerts tremendous force on the body's internal structure.

This occurs because the superheated air now exerts its pressure over a much larger surface area, as when the wind suddenly fills a sail.

The breakup of the meteoroid yields an even larger total surface area for the superheated air to act upon and a cycle of amplification rapidly occurs.

[7] The table from Earth Impact Effects Program (EIEP) estimates the average frequency of airbursts and their energy yield in kilotons (kt) or megatons (Mt) of TNT equivalent.

[10] Modern researchers are sceptical about the figure, but had the Tunguska event occurred over a highly populous district, it might have caused a similar level of destruction.

[citation needed] A study published in 2020 claimed that on 22 August 1888, a meteorite killed a man and left another paralyzed in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, as reported by the local governor to Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire.

[12][13][14] The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization and modern technology has improved multiple detection of airbursts with energy yield 1–2 kilotons every year within the last decade.