Ionosphere disturbances accompanying the flight of the Chelyabinsk body

Data received from a network of ionosondes located at distances of 1500–3100 km from the Chelyabinsk meteorite site are used to analyze ionospheric disturbances at a height of approximately 300 km following the flight and explosion of the space body. The fall of the meteoroid is believed to be accompanied by the generation of gravitational waves in the neutral atmosphere and traveling ionospheric disturbances. The velocity and period of the latter are 600–700 m/s and 70–135 min, respectively; the amplitude of relative electron concentration disturbances is 10–20%. There is evidence of the 6–7 h ionospheric presence of wave electron concentration disturbances with relative amplitude of 10–20%, which could have been caused by long-living whirlwinds in the upper atmosphere.