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Yield estimation of the 2020 Beirut explosion using open access waveform and remote sensing data.
Christoph Pilger1, Peter Gaebler2, Patrick Hupe2
1Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), 30655, Hanover, Germany. christoph.pilger@bgr.de.
Scientific Reports
|July 9, 2021
Summary
This study analyzes the Beirut explosion using seismological, hydroacoustic, infrasonic, and radar data. The explosion
Area of Science:
- Geophysics
- Remote Sensing
- Disaster Analysis
Background:
- The Beirut explosion on August 4, 2020, caused significant fatalities and infrastructure damage.
- On-site analysis was limited due to the catastrophic nature of the event.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the Beirut explosion using multi-technique analysis of publicly available data.
- To characterize the source and estimate the explosive yield of the Beirut explosion.
Main Methods:
- Combined analysis of seismological, hydroacoustic, infrasonic, and radar remote sensing data.
- Utilized open-access global station networks and satellite missions.
Main Results:
- Estimated the explosive yield to be between 0.13 and 2 kilotons of TNT (kt TNT).
- The estimated yield is consistent with the reported 2.75 kt of ammonium nitrate as the source.
Conclusions:
- The multi-technique approach using open data is scientifically relevant and transferable to other explosion events.
- Provides a method for analyzing large-scale events when on-site investigation is not feasible.
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