http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/011503/Local/ST002.shtml
Likely sonic boom still puzzles officials Fourth such mysterious tremor since 1989 rattles region Scott Streater Pensacola News Journal (Florida) January 15, 2003 The large boom that shook walls and windows from Century to Milton on Monday remains a mystery - and probably will stay that way. The issue remained a hot topic Tuesday among those who heard their windows rattle and saw desktop computers bobble like apples in a barrel of water. One woman in Bratt on Escambia County's north end said she lay on her bed in amazement as the ground moved like a wave, jostling her bed up and down. "I kept rocking like I was on the water," said Annie Lawson, 78. What could cause such a powerful event? The most likely scenario: a sonic boom, probably from a military aircraft or a missile traveling beyond the 750 mph sound barrier, experts said. Almost everyone contacted Tuesday believed this to be the case - even Joan Scott, who claims she was abducted in Gulf Breeze last year by extraterrestrials. Gulf Breeze is one of the hot spots in the nation for UFO hunters. "I don't think this had anything to do with UFOs," she said. "I think it was the military. There's a lot they don't tell us." Eglin Air Force Base officials insist they had no aircraft in operation that could produce a sonic boom at the time of the event, which occured shortly before 3 p.m. Monday. In addition, the base was not testing any weapons at the time of the incident, said base spokeswoman Lois Walsh. The same holds true for Pensacola Naval Air Station. "It wasn't us," said Pat Nichols, an NAS spokesman. The best that scientists, government regulators and local leaders could do Tuesday to solve the mystery was chronicle what almost certainly did not cause the boom: It wasn't an earthquake. No seismic activity was recorded in the region Monday by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said Waverly Person, a geophysicist. "If it was an earthquake that affected two counties, it would show up on the seismic graphs," said Martin Chapman, a seismologist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It wasn't a meteor. No one reported seeing a meteor streaking across the sky. You would have seen it if there were a meteor nearby capable of a sonic boom the size of the one that residents claim to have heard Monday. "If there's a meteor large enough to cause a sonic boom, it's going to be front-page news across the southeast," Chapman said. It wasn't an industrial explosion. Area industries and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates them, say there were no explosions at any area plant. "There was absolutely nothing going on here that would cause that," said Don Emert, manager of the Air Products & Chemicals Inc. plant in Pace. Monday's mysterious boom was not the first time the local community has been left baffled by a large noise or tremor that had the power to shake walls and windows. Between November 1989 and November 1991, there were at least three "unknown tremors" that shook the ground. None was ever explained. A November 1989 tremor that was confined to central Pensacola shook windows and baffled scientists. Two months later, in January 1990, a large tremor that could be felt from Pace to Mobile knocked washing machines off balance and shook windows. But again, no one ever figured out what it was. Nearly two years later, in November 1991, a third tremor shook the region from Perdido Key to Mobile. An earthquake did hit southwest Alabama in October 1997, measuring 4.9 in magnitude, which could be felt as far away as Milton. There were no injuries, and no property was damaged in Northwest Florida. But earthquakes in this region are extremely rare, experts say. In fact, Florida has recorded the fewest number of earthquakes in the United States in the last 200 years, said Chapman, the Virginia Polytechnic seismologist. "We have had things like this in the past that we could not explain," said Janice Kilgore, Escambia County's director of public safety. "Normally, we usually find out from the military that they're running some maneuver, and that answers the question." There are no plans to investigate the issue further. "There's not a lot to work with," said Rhonda Ray, a spokeswoman with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. "It's just basically a mystery." Whatever the cause, it had a great impact on area residents such as Barbara Heindl. She was standing in her kitchen, near Pensacola Regional Airport, when she heard what she thought was thunder slowly grow louder and louder. "It just never stopped," said Heindl, 68. "I wasn't panicked, but I thought, `My God, what is this?' I thought a plane had crashed. I went out the back door, nothing. I went out the front door, nothing. "It was really something," she said. "I just can't get over it." ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
