February 1, 2003 Possible Recording: Space Shuttle Columbia Accident

 

General Information

• Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew   from NASA Online
• Excerpts From NASA News Conference at Johnson Space Center   (NYTimes Online, February 3, 2003)
• Experts Suspect a Wider Debris Field   (NYTimes Online, Feb 5, 2003)
• Loss of the Shuttle: A Forensic Seismology Analysis from the Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona

Seismographs

There is a complication on the possible recordings of the shuttle explosion. It turns out that there WAS a moderate sized earthquake that occurred right around the time of the Columbia disaster. We missed it over the weekend, because the USGS didn't post it until some time Monday. Here is the relevant hypocentral information:

01-FEB-2003 13:47:51
Lat 7.62
Long -81.75
Mag 5
Dep. 39.7
PANAMA

This means that the large, long-period oscillations recorded at around 1359 UTC are most likely surface waves produced by the Panama event. With some filtering, we should be able to separate long-period surface waves from possible shuttle-related events. Look for relatively high-frequencies, perhaps using a high-pass filter at 1 Hz, and see if you can find any identifiable events.

We'll keep you informed as more info appears.

If you are an IU-PEPP network station, please post your data on the SiteScape Forum. (Day: 2003:032, Time interval: 13:50 - 14:10)

• PPBLO 3-Component Record   (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)
  Here is the three-component record of the event recorded at BLO. The high-frequency blip at the beginning may be a local blast coincidentally recorded at about the same time. It'll help if we can compare with other local records to separate the mine blasting from a possible atmospheric event.
• PPBLO Detail of Vertical Component   (Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)
• ANZA array network recording   (Southern California)
• Details of U. of Arizona seismographs from page above (in General Information)
• Download and view data from various stations on this event (from U. of Arizona page)
• Historical Shuttle Seismograph Signals (from U. of Arizona page)
• Infrasound Signals from the Re-Entry and Explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia, 01 February, 2003 from Southern Methodist University, Texas

Maps

• Radar Map of Decending Debris   (NOAA)
• Long Range Ground Track Plot   (NASA, on U. of Arizona page above)
• Preliminary Location of Explosion   (QTSI, on U. of Arizona page above)
• Revised Location of Explosion   (QTSI, on U. of Arizona page above)
• Preliminary Location based on ANSA data

 

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