Meteor Airburst off the coast of New Zealand

2026, January 30. New Zealand, east of South Island. Airburst. Time: 23:25 NZT or 10:25:27UT. Coordinates: (45.0S, 174.5E). Altitude: 89 km. Energy: e = 3.4e10, -e = 0.12 or 120,000 kg/TNT. Total Velocity: 71.07 km/s. This high velocity is quite characteristic of objects originating from further out in the solar system or those meeting Earth head-on in its orbit. Sound: Concurrent and delayed sound heard. Duration: 5+ sec. Direction: WSW? (further data to come). Left behind a glowing contrail. Seen the length of the South Island and in the southern parts of the North Island. Canterbury Region, Manawatū-Whanganui Region, Marlborough Region, Nelson Region, Otago Region, Southland Region, Tasman Region, Wellington Region. 

A Marine Animal Disturbance alert should be noted for the region from Stewart Island in the south to Hawkes Bay in the North. Further data regarding the meteor flux before and after this event in later days. A broad precautionary watch for the Chatham Islands, Farewell Spit and even the west side coastal regions of the country. 

Historically, the airbursts in the southern regions have shown a detrimental effect over a large area.  So far Tasmania has reported no data; however, this island is in a data blind. Usually, any high activity in New Zealand can result in strandings in Tasmania. Therefore, a watch should be noted for species not commonly seen in stranding events, and it can be months after the incident stream has occurred.

Fireballs Aotearoa: Facebook

A second event:

2026, January 30. New Zealand. Fireball. Time: 22:32NZDT or 09:32 UT. Seen: Manawatū-Whanganui Region, Marlborough Region, Taranaki Region, Wellington Region  

Sri Lanka Mass Dolphin Stranding

2025, May 14. Sri Lanka, Kalutara South beach, 40km south of Colombo. A mass stranding of at least six dolphins. The officials of the Veterinary Unit of the Department of Wildlife Conservation stated that the dolphins were discovered with visible injuries. Further, turbulent ocean conditions may have played a role in the incident, according to the officials. As such, an investigation is currently underway to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the incident.

See March 14th post for Marine Animal Disturbance Alert issued for the region.

  

Mass whale stranding in Belize

2025, April 22. Belize. Location is between Stank Bank and Drowned Cayes Area, or to a greater extent between Belize City and Turneffe Atoll. A mass whale stranding of 30 false killer whales. This area has seen pilot whales mass strand before, and this is the third time FKW have stranded in these shallow seas. The Belize Fisheries Department coordinated with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute.

Update: April 25. All individuals found deeper water and have ventured away from danger.

Tribal hunts need to stop! The Gray whales are under threat

The Makah Tribe in Washington has won approval from the US to resume whale hunting for the first time in 25 years. The indigenous communities and the US government are ignorant of the environment. Apparently, both parties have been naive for thousands of years. Governments need more information to guide their decision-making. Selfishness and ignorance are not a good mix. 

Makah Indian whalers atop a dead gray whale in the harbor at Neah Bay, Washington, on 17 May 1999. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP

Native American tribe wins right to hunt gray whales off Washington coast | West Coast | The Guardian

This does not make environmental sense when the Gray whale population is under threat.

Study: Oregon gray whales are shrinking in size | The Daily Chronicle (chronline.com)

Meteor dismantled over New Zealand

2024. May 28. New Zealand, North Island. Tasman Sea, W.W Coast. A meteor was dismantled with two tracked objects coming into the atmosphere. The first: Time: 08:47:32. Velocity: 62km/s. Duration: 2.66 sec. LB: 172.45. LB: -42.41. HB: 119.75 km. LE: 171.17. LE: -41.28. HE: 107.66 km. The second followed approximately one second later: 2024. May 28. Time: 08:47:33. Velocity: 62km/s. Duration: 6.08 sec. LB: 172.68. LB: -42.61. HB: 121.75 km. LE: 169.84. LE: -40.04. HE: 99.70 km.

The first object travelled 165.20 km in 2.66 seconds and the second travelled 371.42 km in 6.08 seconds. A marine animal disturbance alert should be noted for the Farewell Spit area. Even though over a third is over land the event was large enough to be of concern due to the time of year. The two objects in the image below follow almost the same track. Hopefully, this happened 4 days ago, so we could have dodged a bullet. 

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Meteor Airburst in South China Sea. Updated Singapore Fireball - Two events in the South China Sea

2024, May 24. South China Sea. Airburst. Approximately 200 km from Borneo/Brunei. (latitude: 6.6, longitude: 114.2). e = 5.4. -e = 0.18 or 180,000 kg/TNT. This is 50,000kg/TNT bigger than the recent Portugal airburst/meteor. Altitude = 42 km. Velocity: 36.5 km/s.

Marine animal disturbance could be observed on the N.W coastline of Borneo and the Philippine Island of Palawan in the next 14 days. After this time interval dead animals are usually found. It should be noted a large number of cetaceans have been observed to stand in the area in the last month. This could mean a meteoroid stream has been active for some time; in other words, precursor material has been entering Earth's atmosphere.

Google Maps

The event below was near Singapore and can be seen on the map above. The event happened just hours after the Borneo airburst. Note: Thunderstorms and meteor activity are closely related, causing atmospheric disturbances that can be disastrous for air travel. 

2024, May 24. Singapore. Large meteor/fireball. Time: Approximately 23:47. 

Meteor Airburst in North Atlantic

2024, April 9. North Atlantic. Airburst. Location (36.5, -37.8). Time: 04:47. e=3.3, -e=0.11. Equivalent energy of 110,000 kilograms of TNT. Altitude: 36.3 km. 700km W.S.W of the Azores.

Fireballs (nasa.gov)

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)

Meteor in New Zealand and dead Pygmy whale in Mexico. Update: Meteor 16:00 N.Z. Update: 17:00 North Sea

Update: Second significant fireball event in New Zealand since the March 13 meteor impact. This event could produce marine animal disturbance.

Local time: 6:35. See the image below. Explosion, shockwave and tremor. It was seen, heard and felt over a distance of 500km.

“It felt like an earthquake, followed by a shockwave”, “I didn’t see the fireball - but felt the explosion and shockwave, it was the loudest explosion we have ever heard, felt the earth move … and there was a sudden weird wind momentarily straight after the event.”  

Meteor shoots across New Zealand skies, sparks Fireballs Aotearoa plea for footage - NZ Herald

Laurie Jane Palmer captured the smoke trail from the meteor above Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast last night. Photo / Laurie Jane Painter via Facebook  

2024, March 29. New Zealand, Manawatū-Whanganui, Marlborough, Taranaki, Waikato and Wellington. Time 05:42 UT. North Island, west coast, travelling west. The object fragmented and there was a report of a sonic boom.

American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org)

Map – Fireballs Aotearoa

Update: 2024, March 27. England and Scotland. North Sea. Large Meteor. Time: Around 23:19 UT. Traveling S.W.

2024, March 28. Mexico, Cancun Beach. Pygmy sperm whale strands and dies.

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