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Not an
Earthquake, But Town is Shaken By A Sonic Boom Published Date: 27 March 2008 Source: Bridlington Free Press Location: Bridlington DID THE earth move for you last Wednesday night? It did for quite a few Bridlington residents who contacted the Free Press to find out if we had another earthquake. In fact, local phone lines were red hot as friends and neighbors rang each other to see if they had also heard and felt a loud thud or bang. Dave Garrity was at home in Wentworth Road at 8pm when he heard a noise like someone jumping up and down on the top of his bay window. "I went out to have a look and found practically the whole street had come outside to see what was going on." Friends living in Brookland Road rang to say they had also heard and felt the noise and his mother-in-law who lives in Greame Road also called to say she wondered if there had been another minor earthquake. Across town Patrick Tibble was watching TV at his home at the top of Bempton Lane. "I thought my six-year-old daughter Ruby had fallen out of bed or something. I went upstairs to find her fast asleep," he said. He also rang friends and others rang him about the same experience at various addresses across Bridlington. The sonic boom theory from some high speed military aircraft was a favourite explanation. The police and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service received a few calls from people about the mystery noise, and coastguards confirmed there had been a military air exercise going on over or near the coast last Wednesday evening "A sound barrier boom is the most likely explanation," said a spokesman for the fire and rescue service. |
| Sonic Boom
Hits Norfolk DAVID BALE 20 March 2008 Norwich EveningNews 24 Did you hear a loud bang this lunchtime? If you did, don't worry, it wasn't another earthquake, but probably a sonic boom. The British Geological Survey (BGS) said many people in Norfolk reported a 'felt' event from 12.10pm to 12.40pm in the area around Norwich. A spokesman said: “People have described 'the whole house shook' and 'it rocked our office building' and 'a loud bang'. “Data from the BGS seismic network in the region were examined and a signal consistent with a possible sonic origin was recorded at 12:13pm on a station in the area. “The reports received are also consistent with historical observations received for previous events in the area for events with a sonic origin.” A spokesman said the sonic boom could have been caused by an aeroplane travelling through the sound barrier over the North Sea. The BGS contacted the RAF but it could not confirm if aircraft were operational at the time. |
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Mystery Source, likely Sonic Boom, Shook Southeast Missouri Last Week Monday, March 10, 2008 By Donna Farley Daily American Republic NEW MADRID, Mo. — A possible sonic boom heard last week by residents across southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkansas could help researchers better understand earthquake hazard. At 2:48 p.m. last Wednesday people for more than 200 miles, from Forrest City, Ark., to Cape Girardeau, felt what they thought was an earthquake. Scientists at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) at the University of Memphis in Tennessee know it was not. Though scientists were reluctant to say what caused the boom, it most probably resulted from an Air Force jet flying over the area. Whatever the reason, it created sound waves that helped the earthquake researchers. The disturbance was first recorded on a seismic station in Pemiscot Bayou, in the lower part of the Bootheel. It then traveled southeast at about 1,115 feet per second to a station in Lennox, Tenn., and was eventually recorded on all of the CERI's 100 seismic stations in the New Madrid Fault Zone. "(It moved) with the speed of sound in air," explained Dr. Steph Horton, seismology research scientist. "The sound interacted with the ground and we could see it each time it reached a station. The speed of sound moving through the ground is much higher." Sound's interaction with the ground is something CERI professor Dr. Charles Langston began studying in 2004, according to his Web site. Langston was not available for comment. Langston's project explores, in part, the potential for acoustic shock waves to be used to map soil structure, according to Horton. The type of soil beneath a location can play a significant role in determining how well an area can withstand an earthquake. The New Madrid zone has as many as 200 minor quakes a year and has in the last 200 years suffered damaging earthquakes. These have been felt in an area up to 20 times greater than California earthquakes because seismic waves die out much more slowly here than on the West Coast. Scientists believe this is because the thick layers of soft soil, often found in flood plains, may amplify motion as it nears the surface. Structures built on or near bedrock tend to experience lower levels of earthquake ground shaking. Because soil structure can vary greatly from one location to the next, seismologists say detailed mapping of an are's soil must be done to know the true seismic hazard of an area. This is not something included in current National Seismic Hazard Maps. Soil mapping is a time-consuming process, which uses imaging techniques and requires a high concentration of borehole measurements to be taken from the area being mapped. The years-long project is currently taking place in St. Louis and Memphis. It may be possible to use sound wave pressure increases and decreases to understand how quickly seismic waves will travel through near-surface soils, Horton said. It appears last week's sonic boom started north of Poplar Bluff, Mo., which is on the outside of CERI's seismic instrument network, according to seismologists. Comments The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, use the exclamation point icon beside the comment to send a report to the webmaster. I lived in Forrest City as a child and whenever there was an electrical storm, the ground would shake like an earthquake from the thunder. I was very afraid that the ground was going to open up and swallow our house!! After reading this article, I now understand why the ground shook so much. -- Posted by sun_shine52 on Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 10:59 pm CDT I lived in Forrest City as a child and whenever there was an electrical storm, the ground would shake like an earthquake from the thunder. I was very afraid that the ground was going to open up and swallow our house!! After reading this article, I now understand why the ground shook so much. -- Posted by sun_shine52 on Wed, Mar 12, 2008, 10:55 pm CDT any possibility it could have been a meteor ?? -- Posted by bloodyhand on Tue, Mar 11, 2008, 5:56 am CDT |
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Boom, Lights near Kokomo By Rick Callahan Associated Press April 17, 2008 INDIANAPOLIS ? Loud booms and strings of flare-like lights that brightened the sky two nights in a row over north-central Indiana may have been F-16 fighter jets on training missions, an Indiana Air National Guard official said Thursday. The booms shook houses in the Kokomo area about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, frightening residents and prompting Howard County police to search for a downed aircraft, said Larry Smith, the county's emergency management director. No aircraft debris was found, and Smith said he was at a loss to explain what some people speculated may have been a meteor. But Tech Sgt. Darin Hubble with the 122nd Fighter Wing, an Indiana Air National Guard unit based at Fort Wayne International Airport about 70 miles away, said military officials are investigating if F-16 training might explain the Kokomo booms and lights and similar reports Tuesday over Logansport. He said training often includes pilots shooting flares and can produce sonic booms that shake the ground below. We're allowed to do training missions in that area and our F-16s are equipped with flares that erupt in order to evade heat-seeking missiles. They're a deterrent,? he said. Police switchboards in Howard and Tipton counties were inundated by calls after residents saw bright lights just before a loud sound like a sonic boom Wednesday night. Smiths secretary, Janice Hart, said she was lying on her bed talking to her niece when a loud explosion rocked her home. ?It just shook my house to its depths. As soon as it happened, my niece said, ?Oh my God Aunt Janice, what was that?? I looked out my bedroom window and my husband went to the front of the house to see what it was,? she said. Hart, who initially thought an explosion had rocked a nearby factory, was busy Thursday morning handling calls about the noise and lights. ?That's all they're talking about. I had numerous calls asking if it was a sonic boom, a meteor, even some people joking that it was a UFO,? she said. Hubble said the National Guards Joint Force Command in Indianapolis would release a statement Thursday afternoon on the reports. But he said the 122nd?s logs do not indicate the jets producing sonic booms Tuesday or Wednesday night. A message seeking comment was left Thursday with the Guards Indianapolis headquarters. Logansport Police Chief A.J. Rozzi said he heard a loud sonic boom Tuesday night, and then heard the sound of a jet high overheard. He said residents also reported seeing fire streaks in the sky. He said it is common for the 122nd to conduct missions in the area and believes F-16 training almost certainly explains the sights and sounds. ?They've been doing that training for quite a while. I don't know what maneuvers they're actually doing, but they do shoot out streaks of light,? he said. Major Brian Martin, a spokesman North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said none of the thousands of manmade objects ? spent rocket vehicles, satellites ? that government tracks re-entered the atmosphere over the U.S. on Wednesday night. ?I'm positive nothing came in last night,? he said. |
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Guard Says Jets Caused Mysterious Booms April 18, 2008 INDIANAPOLIS (WISH/AP) - A mysterious boom has people in Tipton and Howard counties talking. The loud noise shook homes and woke people up around 10:30 Wednesday night. Some reported seeing bright lights in the sky near the Tipton and Howard county line. Now, it appears that loud noise was a sonic boom created by F-16's that were training in the area. "It just sounded like a loud boom like someone hit a telephone pole," said Amanda Jones. "My husband thought it was thunder. It sounded like an explosion. It woke my daughter up," said Kelly Heredos. "I talked to my girlfriends mom and she heard it all the way in Miami County," said Derrick. Seconds after the loud boom, calls flooded into Howard County dispatch. "We had a large explosion up there on the north end. When I ran out the door there were balls of flame shooting everywhere," said 911 caller. Dispatch received 146 calls in just 15 minutes. Even the Howard County Sheriff heard the noise, but he wasn't overly concerned. "It appeared to me to be a sonic boom and not an explosion or car accident near by," said Sheriff Marty Talbert. Deputies and police searched the area but found nothing. One theory was a meteor may have caused the boom. And, two individuals with the Mutual UFO Network are looking in to the boom. "I'd say this is one of the biggest events we've had in this area for quite some time," said UFO investigator Glen Means. Means doesn't believe the military's explanation. "It wasn't an F-16, it wasn't a sonic boom and it wasn't flares." He was out Thursday looking for evidence. "We don't go into emotions. We don't go into we think it was this, we think it was that. What we do is we collect the facts and then we get together, say, 'Okay, what do we got here?' And honestly, to answer your question, I don't know what we've got here," said Means. Despite several theories, Sheriff Talbert is done investigating the mysterious boom. The Indiana Air National guard said F-16 fighter jets out of Fort Wayne were training in the area Wednesday night. Those jets may have caused loud booms and strings of flare-like lights that lit up the night sky two nights in a row over north-central Indiana. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read what the commander of the 122nd Fighter Wing in Fort Wayne had to say about supersonic flight in Indiana in Eric Halvorson's Blog. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A similar boom was reported Tuesday night over the Logansport area. Report by Jay Hermacinski and Daniel Miller, WISH. Edited by Hyacinth Williams. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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Indiana National Guard Explains Disturbances in Night Sky Submitted by kpaul.mallasch on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 3:50am. INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Indiana National Guard takes responsibility for recent night time disturbances in the Logansport and Kokomo areas. Loud noises reported by citizens in northern Indiana accompanied by flashes of light and what appeared to be falling debris early this week were a result of training conducted by Indiana National Guard F-16 Aircraft, headquartered at Ft. Wayne’s 122nd Fighter Wing. The Indiana Air National Guard conducts training missions on a daily basis. All of our military members including our pilots and crewmembers require the most realistic training possible for their own safety and those they work to protect. F-16 aircraft routinely train with the countermeasure Chaffe-flare system which draws heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft exhaust. It was the night time engagement of this system that resulted in the “strings of lights” reported by citizens. The flares were released above 10,000 feet in accordance with the long-standing guidance for the Hilltop Military Operations Area (MOA) that extends from Grissom Air Reserve Base to West Lafayette and includes Logansport, 30 miles north of Indianapolis bordering Kokomo. The area is not designated for “super-sonic” flight. “I have ordered a thorough investigation to be conducted into why the incident took place. I have also ordered that our Flying Squadron conduct a complete review of the tactics that were in practice at the time. We will insure that our pilots review airspeed restrictions in all of our practice flight training areas, and that these restrictions are briefed prior to each flight,” said Colonel Jeffery Soldner, Commander of the 122nd Fighter Wing. Source: Indiana National Guard |
| Blame for the Boom April 17, 2008 – 10:13 pm Imaginations ran wild, last night, when people thought something exploded near the Howard - Tipton County line. The Indiana Air National Guard offers a simple explanation: sonic boom. Colonel Jeff Soldner, the commander of the 122nd Fighter Wing in Fort Wayne, says his pilots have produced sonic booms before and they may do it, again. He said a pilot may not know when it happens. “If he just gets going a little bit too fast, he can actually go through the mach, as we call it.” Soldner said his unit was not aware of Wednesday’s boom until media reports raised questions, this morning. The sound is unfamiliar to people in the area because, as Soldner told WANE-TV, “it is an area that is restricted from supersonic flight. So, we work hard not to do that. But, I will tell you that, sometimes, just by accident — or maybe not paying attention closely enough — we will have pilots that will break the mach.” Soldner says, in this case, the pilot is one of his younger aviators. “He is learning as he goes. He’s got a very tough mission to perform in that cockpit, at night, by himself.” The unit will investigate the incident. But, the pilot should not expect punishment. Soldner compared it to a mistake anyone else would make on the job. So, “we simply correct our folks and go from there.” People in the area also reported seeing something akin to a fireball. Colonel Soldner says that can be traced to “defensive flares.” Since the training missions tend to be conducted at an altitude of 20,000 feet, the flares won’t be visible during daytime missions. “They burn out long before anyone would see ‘em,” Soldner said. “But, at night they appear as just a very bright light. They’ll come out in strings of one, two, three, or four, maybe, and it’s very noticeable at night. Soldner says, “in the very near future” he’s likely to make sure local sheriff’s departments are aware of the fighter wing’s flight schedule. That way, they might find it easier to explain any future booms. But, he also said the unit would “try to limit these occurrences in the future.” |
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Possible Sonic Boom in Columbia Missouri COLUMBIA - Boone County Joint Communications says there is no damage reported after a large boom rocked portions of Columbia. A large boom was felt and heard in many portions of the city a little after 1:00 PM. Calls to area emergency departments found no answer to the cause of the noise. The Columbia Regional Airport also did not have any information about a possible military flight in the area. Boone County Joint Communication thinks a sonic boom is the most likely cause of the shaking. If you have any information, email KOMU 8 at news@komu.com Posted by: Jen Reeves ngkok; Editing by Bill Tarrant) May 28, 2008 |