Monitoring the fall of large atmospheric ice conglomerations: a multianalytical approach to the study of the Mejorada del Campo megacryometeor

Abstract

Certain local atmospheric anomalies, such as the formation of unusually large ice conglomerations (megacryometeors), have been proposed to be a potential natural hazard for people and aviation, as well as geoindicators for fingerprinting larger-scale atmospheric environmental changes. On March 13th 2007, at approximately 10:15 am, an ice chunk weighing about 10 kg fell from the clear-sky and crashed through the roof (around 15 m) of an industrial storage house in Mejorada del Campo, a town located 20 km east from Madrid. The megacryometeor monitoring follow-up and the original investigation presented here includes, for the first time, both logistic and scientific collaboration between the Laboratory of the Environment, Criminalistic Service (SECRIM, the Spanish "Guardia Civil") and academic and scientific institutions (universities and the Spanish National Research Council). We propose that the management procedure of the incident, along with the detailed scientific research and combination of analytical methodologies in different laboratories, can serve as a protocol model for other similar events.

Micro-Raman spectroscopic study of extremely large atmospheric ice conglomerations (megacryometeors)

“…These data are close to those obtained from the isotopic ratio measurements. Isotopic studies of megacryometeors (Martínez-Frías et al 2005;Martínez-Frías & Delgado 2006;Orellana et al 2008) confirmed that d 18 O and dD (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water, V-SMOW) of all samples fall into the Meteoric Water Line (MWL), demonstrating unequivocally that megacryometeors match well with typical tropospheric values (figure 6). The most positive values Although the spectral features in the OH stretching region are not very different among the megacryometeors observed, two groups can be established.…”

“…Isotopic studies of megacryometeors (Martínez-Frías et al 2005;Martínez-Frías & Delgado 2006;Orellana et al 2008) Martínez-Frías et al 2005. ) are typical of rain water in the Iberian Peninsula (e.g.…”

“…Previous contributions to the knowledge of megacryometeors have focused on the study of their textures (zones of 'massive ice', large isolated cavities, millimetre-sized oriented air bubbles and ice layering) and their hydrochemistry and isotopic composition, all of them evidencing a complex history of growth in the atmosphere (Martínez-Frías et al 2000, 2001, 2005Santoyo et al 2002;Martínez-Frías & Delgado 2006;Orellana et al 2008). To the best of our knowledge, no spectroscopic studies have been performed on these megacryometeors.…”