Was the 1908 Siberia Explosion Caused by a Comet?

[EnumaElish]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090629/sc_space/spaceshuttleandstrangecloudskeytomysterious1908explosion]"New[/PLAIN] evidence from an unlikely source -- water vapor in the exhaust plumes of space shuttles launched a century later -- points to a comet."

Just last year, many experts were figuring it was an asteroid.

But Kelley's team thinks a comet fits better, since comets are loaded with water ice (asteroids are mostly rock and metals). The comet would have started to break up at about the same altitude as the release of the exhaust plume from the space shuttle following launch, they calculate. In both cases, water vapor was injected into the atmosphere.

But how did the water vapor travel so far?

"There is a mean transport of this material for tens of thousands of kilometers in a very short time, and there is no model that predicts that," Kelley said. "It's totally new and unexpected physics."

Kelley and his colleague say a new model of upper-atmospheric physics is needed. They propose counter-rotating eddies with extreme energy. Once the water vapor got caught up in these eddies, it traveled very quickly -- close to 300 feet per second, they write in the June 24 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

This got me wondering: If vapor can travel down so fast, can it also travel up at the same speed? Can other gases or particles be injected into or dejected from the atmosphere at this speed?

 

[Astronuc]

This got me wondering: If vapor can travel down so fast, can it also travel up at the same speed? Can other gases or particles be injected into or dejected from the atmosphere at this speed?

Sure. But there would have to be a fair amount of mass involved.

Perhaps this volcanic eruption is the nearest thing.

Stunning pictures of the volcano that blew a hole in the sky as astronauts witness eruption from International Space Station
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=38985

 

[Huyen401]

It's definitely possible for gases and particles to be injected or dejected from the atmosphere at high speeds. In fact, this is a common occurrence in nature. For example, volcanic eruptions can release large amounts of gases and particles into the atmosphere at high speeds, sometimes reaching speeds of over 100 meters per second.

Additionally, meteor impacts can also inject particles into the atmosphere at high speeds. When a meteor enters the Earth's atmosphere, it compresses the air in front of it, creating a shock wave that can reach speeds of up to 20 kilometers per second. This shock wave can carry particles from the meteor into the upper atmosphere, where they can stay for extended periods of time.

So, while the specific mechanism described in the article may be unique to water vapor and upper-atmospheric eddies, the general concept of gases and particles being injected or dejected from the atmosphere at high speeds is not uncommon in nature.