Electrophonic sounds from meteors and auroral audibility

Abstract

Electrophonic sounds from meteors are sounds simultaneous with meteors (i.e. without delay). They are known for hundreds years. At least several hypotheses were put forward, but none of them received confirmation. Most hypotheses consider the energy of the meteoroid as a source of sound energy. In the early 1990s the author published several articles with another idea - a meteoroid is just a trigger of some processes which cause (in favourable geophysical conditions) electrophonic sounds. In this paper new arguments in favor of this idea are presented. Much attention is paid to sounds of aurora, which (in the author's opinion) could help better understand electrophonic sounds from meteors.