List of meteor air bursts

Many explosions have been recorded in Earth's atmosphere that are likely caused by the air burst that results from a meteor burning up as it hits the atmosphere. These types of meteors are also known as fireballs (or bolides) with the brightest known as superbolides. Contrary to smaller and common "shooting stars", these larger meteors were originally asteroids and comets of a few to several tens of meters in diameter before impacting with Earth's atmosphere.

The best known is the 1908 Tunguska event. The appearance of extremely bright fireballs traveling across the sky is often witnessed from a distance, such as the 1947 Sikhote-Alin meteor and the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor, both in Russia. If the bolide is large enough, fragments may survive such as the Chelyabinsk meteorite. Modern developments in infrasound detection by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (preparatory commission est. 1997) and infrared DSP satellite technology have increased the likelihood of detecting airbursts.

The table from Earth Impact Effects Program (EIEP) estimates the average frequency of airbursts and their energy yield in kilotons (kt) or megatons (Mt) of TNT equivalent.

While airbursts undoubtedly happened prior to the 20th century, reliable reports of such are quite scanty. A relatively well-documented case is the 1490 Ch'ing-yang event which has an unknown energy yield but was apparently powerful enough to cause 10000 deaths. Modern researchers are skeptical about the figure, but the Tunguska event could have destroyed a highly populous district.

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