title: Monitoring the fall of large atmospheric ice conglomerations: a multianalytical approach to the study of the Mejorada del Campo megacryometeor.
abstract: Certain local atmospheric anomalies, such as the formation of unusually large ice conglomerations (megacryometeors), have been proposed to be a potential natural hazard for people and aviation, as well as geoindicators for fingerprinting larger-scale atmospheric environmental changes. On March 13th 2007, at approximately 10:15 am, an ice chunk weighing about 10 kg fell from the clear-sky and crashed through the roof (around 15 m) of an industrial storage house in Mejorada del Campo, a town located 20 km east from Madrid. The megacryometeor monitoring follow-up and the original investigation presented here includes, for the first time, both logistic and scientific collaboration between the Laboratory of the Environment, Criminalistic Service (SECRIM, the Spanish "Guardia Civil") and academic and scientific institutions (universities and the Spanish National Research Council). We propose that the management procedure of the incident, along with the detailed scientific research and combination of analytical methodologies in different laboratories, can serve as a protocol model for other similar events.
authors.affiliation: Dirección General de la Guardia Civil, Servicio de Criminalística, Laboratorio de Medioambiente, C\Guzmán el Bueno 110, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco Alamilla
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Orellana
authors.forename: José Ma Ramiro
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alegre
authors.forename: José Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cordero Pérez
authors.forename: Ma Paz
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Martín Redondo
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delgado Huertas
authors.forename: Ma Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Fernández Sampedro
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Menor-Salván
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Bermejo
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: López-Vera
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Losada
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martinez-Frias
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D007053:Ice / Q000032:analysis*; D019110:Meteoroids; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D007053:Ice