article: Sep 12 2006 - Sonic Boom over Canterbury

Reports have come in regarding a sonic boom and ground shaking just before 3 pm this afternoon.

Seismic trace showing the sonic boom over Canterbury.

The GeoNet instruments have detected both surface and sound waves at two of the recording sites, one at the base of the Cashmere Hills, and the other at McQueens Valley on Banks Peninsula. They show that the disturbance is not caused by an earthquake, but is more consistent with an object flying across Canterbury from a north-westerly direction at greater than the speed of sound. It is not known whether the object has been vapourised, or whether it has plunged into the ocean.