Meteor, Indian Ocean south of Perth, Western Australia

Watch for marine disturbance after meteor. This wasn't a large or low meteor by any means; however, it is significant enough to warrant a post because of the migration patterns for marine life this time of year. 

2024, April 16. Western Australia, Indian Ocean, S.W of Perth. Meteor. Location: (-34.29, 113.09). Time: 15:33UCT. Velocity: 63.87 km/s. Flight Duration: It travelled 225km in 3.71 seconds.  

Thanks to Map – Fireballs Aotearoa for event data.

Mass stranding of dolphins in Massachusetts and dead dolphin in Texas

2024, April 13.USA, Massachusetts, Duck Creek in Wellfleet. 5 dolphins were rescued, however, 2 died.

5 dolphins rescued, 2 dead after being stranded on Cape Cod (boston.com)

2024, April 7. USA, Massuchusetts. Time: around 01:15 UT, 21:15EDT. Fireball.

Fireball Logs - American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

2024, April 13. USA, Texas, Houston, Rockport. A dead dolphin was located in an advanced state of decomposition.

Dead dolphin ashore creates bureaucratic snafu for coastal Texas town (lmtonline.com)

Meteors in the Shetland Islands and France

2024, April 13. Shetland Islands, Dunrossness. Time: 8.24am. The loud sonic boom could be heard all over the isles from Unst to South Mainland 80km away. Caught on webcam.

 Orkney, Shetland potential meteor spotted Saturday morning (pressandjournal.co.uk)

2024, April 11. Around 18:48 UT, 20:48 CEST. France. Seen also in Spain. Fireball. Inland. Locations Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Catalonia, Cataluña, Centre-Val de Loire, Comunidad Valenciana, Navarre, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Travelling W.N.W. The sonic boom had concurrent and delayed properties.

Credit: Nhin S.

American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

Fireball over North Sea

2024, April 10. The Netherlands. Fireball. Also seen in France, Belgium and Germany. Around 19:57 UT, or 21:56 CEST local time. Sonic boom heard; concurrent and delayed, meaning it could have produced VLF radio waves making this an electrophonic meteor. Travelled N.W. over the coast and exploded over the North Sea. This event could cause marine animal disturbance, See Meteor brings bright fireball to Belgium’s night skies (VIDEO) | VRT NWS: news

Google Maps

Fireball event (amsmeteors.org)

Dead dolphin in South Carolina and sea meteor Cuba/Florida

2024, March 30. US, South Carolina, Pawleys Island. Juvenile dolphin. Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network is looking into the incident.

2024, April 1. USA-Cuba, Florida. Large meteor over sea travelling north. Time: Approximately 04:27 UT. 

Dead dolphin found washed up on shore in Pawleys Island (wpde.com)

American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

Notable meteors over water in last 72 hours

2024, March 21. France, Ligurian Sea, Mediterranean Sea. Liguria, Piemonte and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Fireball. Time: around 18:13UT. Traveling S.S.E.

2024, March 22. California. Seen out to sea in the Pacific Ocean. Fireball. Time: around 05:33 UT.  Seen from a large area of coastline communities. Traveling west.

Fireball Logs - American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

Fireball Logs - American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

Good news for Gray whales in the North Pacific

"Unusual Mortality Event" declared over. 700 gray whales deaths were recorded off the coast from Mexico to Canada between 2019 and 2023. In a worrisome few years for the North Pacific gray whale population, hundreds washed up dead on shorelines along the West Coast leading to an estimated 30% decline in their population. During the years of the Unusual Mortality Event, 347 Gray whales were stranded along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington; another 316 were reported in Mexico and 27 in Canada. The population numbers of the North Pacific Gray whale had declined during the Unusual Mortality Event, going from an estimated 20,500 whales in 2019 to 14,526 whales in 2023. Updated population numbers are expected to come out soon. Total calf production also declined, from around 950 calves counted in 2018 to an estimated 217 calves in 2022. In 2023, calf production increased slightly to 412 counted. Between 2018 to 2023 690 gray whales washed ashore from 2018 to 2023: 347 in the United States, 316 in Mexico and 27 in Canada.

Gray Whale

Below is a map of the North Pacific Meteor Airbursts from 2018 to 2022. One of these had the equivalent energy of 49 million kilograms of TNT. They ranged from the Arctic Circle to California.

NASA

Pilot Whale strands in New Zealand - Search for more. Update later today. Update 22nd of March

2024, March 20. New Zealand, Kaitorete Spit in Canterbury. South of Christchurch, Birdlings Flat Beach, near Lake Ellesmere. Black Dolphin (Pilot Whale). Attempts to refloat it will begin at 1:30pm today at high tide. Authorities are concerned about a larger group coming ashore therefore a search is underway along the coastline. 

Black Dolphin. The whale was euthanised later in the day.

It comes after two large meteors were detected on the 13th. (See post below)

2024, March 13. New Zealand, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Approximate Time: 08:08 (UTC).

Meteorites recovered.

2024, March 13. Tasman Sea, East of South Island New Zealand. Meteor. (-41.98, 166.00). Time: 14:02 (UTC). Duration: 3.93 seconds.

Whale stranded on Christchurch beach, DOC and rescue team working together | Newshub

Another Florida Fireball

2024, March 16. USA, Caicos Islands, Florida and New Providence. Fireball. Time: 00:26 UT. It was seen as far away as the Turks and Caicos Islands over 1000km away. This one was fully over the ocean travelling S.E. approximately 40 km off the coast. It created a sonic boom that was heard in coastline communities. This event could produce marine animal disturbance.

Fireball event (amsmeteors.org)

Tasman Sea Meteor and Update of a previous event

2024, March 13. Tasman Sea. Meteor. (-41.98, 166.00). Time: 14:02 (UTC). Duration: 3.93 seconds. Because of its distance from New Zealand, locality and time of year; this event could produce marine animal disturbance. See map below.

Update: Approximately 7 hours before the event above a large fireball was seen travelling N.W. across the central South Island of New Zealand travelling towards the Tasman Sea. The green meteor lit up the sky for 5.5 seconds and was first detected at a height of 90 km. It descended at approximately 45 degrees and dismantled and disappeared at 25 kilometres. It produced a sonic boom and was travelling in the same direction as the one that would follow. Meteorite has been recovered.

2024, March 13. New Zealand, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Approximate Time: 08:08 (UTC). 

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Three Cachalots (sperm whales) strand and die in UK

The news came in of this event 10 minutes after the last post: The two events work together perfectly in stranding timelines. 

The Stranding:

2024, March 13. UK, Hull. The carcasses of three sperm whales have been found in East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire Two currently remain on mud on the banks of the Humber estuary near Spurn Point and a third whale has washed up dead on Humberston Fitties beach in Cleethorpes.

The Meteor:

2024, March 2. Europe, North Sea/English Channel. Large Fireball. Seen widely across Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and UK. It was seen as far away as central Germany. It lasted for over 7 seconds and fragmented. 

Bodies of sperm whales wash up on beaches (yahoo.com)

Wind farms do not kill whales

Look above your heads and use common sense. The history of whale strandings is written in the history of marine science. 

Offshore wind farms, dead whales and the row that's started a green-on-green civil war (yahoo.com)

A fourth whale strands and dies in North Carolina, and what is happening in Florida?

A fourth whale washed ashore on Nags Head next to Jeanette’s Pier in the USA on March 8. A baby Pygmy Sperm whale.

Baby sperm whale washes ashore in Nags Head; fourth whale in region | WAVY.com

Interesting footnote: In Florida - 2024, February 19 (and the following week). 27 Pelicans with broken wings found in Florida. 24 were euthanized. Florida Wildlife Hospital puts out an alert on February 25 concerning this matter. All birds had the same kind of fracture. Between the period of the 1st and the 8th of February, there was a stream of meteors accompanied by whale strandings. There was heavy meteor activity along the East Coast over the last two months. A malicious event or accident could have occurred however a natural event should be taken into account.

Questions I will investigate further: Do birds have only one broken wing? How many birds were found dead, if any? How many birds are located that seem concussed or "drunk" if any? Over what distance are the birds being found? 

‘Unusual situation’: Brevard County wildlife hospital takes in 20 pelicans with broken wings (msn.com)

North Atlantic Whale Deaths: Airbursts since 2016, a mirror image to the North Pacific

Since 2016 there have been 31 airbursts detected by NASA in the North Atlantic. It is a mirror image of the North Pacific that has seen a rise in Humpback whale deaths and an upward trajectory of airbursts and meteor activity in general.

Fireballs (nasa.gov)

UPDATE: Gray Whale die off in the Pacific: 2019 to 2023

It's important to add this event to show how many meteor incidents occur that are not widely catalogued in data systems that basically happen every day. These air blasts are hazardous to whales.

2018, March 7. USA, Washington State, Pacific Ocean. LARGE METEOR. Loud sonic booms. Three National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather stations detected the fall of a meteorite about 25 kilometres off the coast of Washington state. The fall was widely seen and heard around local areas. The estimated size of meteor was 4.4 kg. Meteorites recovered by expedition.

Dead Herring Whale in Gulf of Barcelona.

Venezuela, Gulf of Barcelona, Anzoategui. A dead Herring whale was reported dead on February 18. The map below shows bolides detected by NASA on the 17 and 22 of January. The yellow cross is approximately where a Herring Whale was located floating on the surface. It was in an advanced case of decomposition.  

NASA Bolide Network

They found a dead whale in the Gulf of Barcelona in Anzoategui (photo) – Play Crazy Game

Meteor over Mediterranean Sea.

A bright meteoroid entry was tracked on February 16 off the Spanish coast. The meteor illuminated the sky as it burned up in a large fireball above the Balearic Sea/Alboran Sea. This was over an area between the coast and the Illes Balears that includes Ibiza.

Mass Whale Strandings in New Zealand with NASA Bolides

The NASA Bolides and the mass whale strandings so far in New Zealand this year. The four yellow crosses indicate the strandings, including the near disaster that locals prevented on February12. 

2024, January 8. New Zealand, Between South and North Island. High Altitude Meteor. Time 15:17. Traveling east to west at 100 km travelling prograde at 57km/s.

2024, January 9 and 10. New Zealand. Two Gray’s beaked whales were stranded on two separate beaches near South Taranaki on Tuesday and Wednesday. The whales were already dead when located on Waipipi coastline and were between 3.5 and 4m in length. This came between 24 and 48 hours after the above meteor event.

2024, January 17, NASA BOLIDE. New Zealand. (-38.5, 178.9).

2024, January 18, NASA BOLIDE. New Zealand/Southern Ocean. (-45.5, -178.7).

2024, January 21. New Zealand, North Island-East Coast, Hawke's Bay, reef near Māhia, Tairāwhiti beach, Taylor’s Beach. 40 false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins were euthanized. The pod first stranded early in the afternoon but refloated with the high tide at about 3pm. They restranded at a remote and inaccessible reef point further south of Taylor’s Beach.

2024, January 21. New Zealand, North Island. Time 9:12pm. The fireball was seen in Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne, Waipawa and Hawke’s Bay, the same day 40 false killer whales were stranded in the area. A loud sonic boom was heard as it flew overhead, travelling from N.W. to S.E. It was described as a low travelling large ball of fire.

2024, January 23, NASA BOLIDE. New Zealand. (-38.9, 174.1).

2024. January 29 - 30. New Zealand, Baylys Beach, West coast North Island. 3 Black Dolphins. The first one washed up from a pod offshore of approx. 10 - 12 individuals. The second was 2km further up the beach and was 3m long. The third washed up the next day. Baylys Beach is a small section of Ripiro Beach, which is the longest west coast beach in New Zealand. It’s located in the Kaipara district near Dargaville. PCTE

2024, January 31. New Zealand, Auckland and Northland Time 08:14 UT. Entered earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean North of the North Island.

2024, February 1, NASA BOLIDE. New Zealand/Southern Ocean. (-48.2, -173.8).

2024, February. New Zealand. Heavy meteoroid shower activity.

2024, February 12. New Zealand, East coast, North Island, East Cape beach of Taylor's Bay. A pod of 35-40 false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins have been refloated and driven back to sea in a strong and coordinated effort by locals after stranding in the afternoon.

Whale Stranding watch for Tasmania.

After looking at historical data and what is happening in New Zealand, probably, King Island, Flinders Island and the east coast of Tasmania could see a mass stranding of cetaceans. This is due to the heavy meteoroid activity in New Zealand. Even though I am unable to back up this with current hard data, historically Tasmania has seen strandings in the above locations when New Zealand has an incident on the northeast coastline.

Whale washes up in California 10 days after meteoroid event.

A decaying gray whale was found washed ashore in Huntington Beach, California.

From the previous post.

Long-duration meteoroid.

Monday, January 29th, 2024, around 06:02 UT. California. Traveling S.E. over the sea. This could result in strandings. Came in just north of Naples and ended offshore from Long Beach or North of Santa Catalina Island.

New Map