2002 Eastern Mediterranean event

Coordinates: 34°N 21°E / 34°N 21°E / 34; 21

The 2002 Eastern Mediterranean Event was a high-energy upper atmosphere explosion over the Mediterranean Sea, around 34°N 21°E (between Libya and Crete) on June 6, 2002.^[1] This explosion, similar in power to a small atomic bomb, has been related to a small asteroid undetected while approaching Earth. The object disintegrated in an air burst impact and no meteorite fragments were recovered. The air burst occurred over the sea.

The event occurred during the 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff, and there were concerns by General Simon Worden of the U.S. Air Force that if the upper atmosphere explosion had occurred closer to Pakistan or India, it could have sparked a nuclear war between the two countries.^[2]

See also

• Impact event
• List of meteor air bursts
• Near-Earth object
• Potentially hazardous asteroid
• Vela incident

References

Modern impact events
On Earth	Pre-2000 1490 Ch'ing-yang 1783 Great Meteor 1860 Great Meteor 1908 Tunguska 1913 Great Meteor Procession 1930 Curuçá River 1938 Chicora meteor 1947 Sikhote-Alin meteorite 1969 Murchison meteorite 1972 Great Daylight Fireball 1990 Earth-grazing meteoroid Post-2000 2002 Eastern Mediterranean 2002 Vitim 2007 Carancas 2008 TC3 impact 2009 Sulawesi superbolide 2012 Sutter's Mill meteorite 2012 UK meteoroid 2012 Novato meteorite 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor Chelyabinsk meteorite 2014 AA impact 2014 Ontario fireball 2015 Kerala meteorite 2015 Thailand bolide WT1190F impact
On Jupiter	1994 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 2009 Jupiter impact 2010 Jupiter impact
Lists	Asteroid close approaches to Earth Comets Meteor air bursts Meteorite falls Minor planets crossing Earth's orbit
See also	Asteroid impact avoidance Bolide Earth-grazing fireball Meteor procession Meteor shower Meteorite Meteoroid Near-Earth object Potentially hazardous object