[meteorite-list] Scientists Scan Sky For Mysterious 'Big Ice Meteors'

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:17:44 2004
Message-ID: <200312111617.IAA06442_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ice11.html

Scientists scan sky for mysterious 'big ice meteors'
BY MICHAEL WOODS
Scripps Howard News Service
December 11, 2003

BARCELONA, Spain -- A scientific team is monitoring ice events in the
United States this winter following research on a baffling phenomenon first
detected in Spain.

The Spanish-American team is investigating incidents involving
''megacryometeors,'' great balls of ice that fall out of the clear blue sky,
possibly because of global warming.

''I'm not worried that a block of ice may fall on your head,'' said Jesus
Martinez-Frias of the Center for Astrobiology, in Madrid. ''I'm worried
that great blocks of ice are forming where they shouldn't exist.''

The term megacryometeors is coined from ''mega,'' which means ''big,'' ''cryo''
for ''ice'' and ''meteor.''

Most weigh 25 to 35 pounds, but one whopper found in Brazil tipped the scales
at 440 pounds.

Incidents like those may be just the beginning, according to David Travis, who
researches atmospheric conditions that foster megacryometeor formation. He
chairs the department of geography and geology at the University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater.

''If megacryometeor formation is linked to global warming, as we suspect, then
it is fair to assume that these events may increase in the future,'' Travis said.

Martinez-Frias pioneered research on megacryometeors in January 2000, after ice
chunks weighing up to 6.6 pounds fell from cloudless skies onto Spain for 10 days.
A government scientific research agency thought the ice might be from a comet, and
asked him to investigate.

The notion of plummeting ice balls defies more than a century of research on hail
formation.

''Scientists are naturally reluctant to say something never can happen,'' said
Charles Knight, a hail expert at the University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research in Boulder, Colo. ''But oh, dear. I would be tempted to say 'never'
on this.''

Knight said he has reviewed papers published on megacryometeors, and thinks the
explanation, which involves atmospheric conditions possibly linked to global
warming, is wrong.
Received on Thu 11 Dec 2003 11:17:41 AM PST