Ionosonde observations of ionospheric disturbances due to the 15 February 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor explosion

We report the results of our investigations on ionospheric effects potentially caused by the 15 February 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor explosion. We used the observation data from a number of digisonde stations located in Europe and Russia to detect the traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) likely to have been caused by the meteor explosion. We found that certain characteristic signatures of the TIDs can be identified in individual ionogram records, mostly in the form of Y‐forking/splitting of the ionogram traces. Based on the arrival times of the disturbances, we have inferred the overall propagation speed of the TIDs from Chelyabinsk to be 171 ± 14 m/s. In addition to the natural fulfillment of scientific endeavors, this work also highlights the importance of maintaining the mastery of ionosondes as ionospheric diagnostic instruments (in terms of operation, data analysis, representation, and interpretation) for many generations of space researchers to come.