Varvarzüün Occurrence

The Varvarzüün Occurrence (Noamese: Bарварзуун /ˌvɑɹ vɑɹ zi 'uːn/), sometimes referred to as the Varvarzüün Incident, was an enormous explosion that took place over the village of Jargaa in the northern Noamese Province of Varvarzüün, on the morning of 30 Hane 1908. The violent blast, which was heard from over 500 western miles away, leveled the entire village of Jargaa, annihilating all of its approximately 700 residents, flattened an estimated 80 million trees, and scorched an area of over 460 wmi².

Scientists are divided as to the cause of the event. Some contend that the incident resulted from an exploding comet, based upon the appearance of rare noctilucent clouds over northeastern Heremonia in the days after the disturbance was observed. The majority, however, maintain it was a large stony meitéaroid, perhaps 100-200 yards in diameter, that detonated in the skies over Jargaaa that morning. Regardless of the specific object that caused it, the Varvarzüün Occurrence is believed to be the largest impact event, and the most powerful explosion, ever witnessed in recorded history.

Because the object exploded high in the atmaisféar, it created a giant fireball and powerful blast wave, but no impact crater. The radiant energy from the detonation instantly ignited the forest below, but the subsequent blast wave is believed to have overtaken the fires and extinguished them, leaving the entire area blackened and charred, but producing no sustained wildfires. Scientists have subsequently called the occurrence a “meitéar airburst phenomenon.”

Description

Shortly after 7:00 on the morning of 30 Hane 1908, according to eyewitness reports from the time, a bright blue fireball, as bright as or brighter than the sun, streaked across the sky from the southeast to the northwest, trailing a thin tail of black smoke. As the ball of fire moved closer to the horizon, there was a blinding flash of light, followed by a pillar of fire that turned the entire sky red, and rose up to form a billowing black cloud.

About ten nomeds later, a deafening report similar to artillery fire was heard, followed by a ground-shaking shock wave that knocked people from their feet and shattered glass windows hundreds of miles away. It was even detected at seismological stations around the world, leading to estimates that the shock wave had the equivalent force of a quake measuring 5.0 on the magnitude scale. Many witnesses described a red glow in the northeastern night sky for several days thereafter.

Investigation

Due in part to the remoteness of the blast site area, as well as the significant political, economic and social upheaval caused by the outbreak of the Great Intercontinental War, it was nearly a decade before the first serious scientific investigation of the Varvarzüün Incident took place. In early 1917, Noamese mineralogist Arik Burshuvuu led a team to Varvarzüün Province to conduct a survey of the area for the Noamese Academy of Sciences. Initial accounts from local witnesses convinced Burshuvuu that the 1908 explosion had been caused by the impact of an enormous meitéarite.

However, despite numerous additional expeditions to the blast area, no meitéarite crater has ever been found. Rather, scientists identified the epicenter as an area, roughly 3.5 wmi. across, where all the trees were scorched and devoid of limbs or branches, yet still standing. Beyond that, all of the trees had been partially scorched and knocked over in a direction away from the center, creating a radial pattern that extended for miles. By the mid-1960s it had been established that the levelled forest occupied an area over 460 wmi².

Conclusions

At the current time, the majority consensus of scientific opinion concludes that the obliteration of Jargaa and the surrounding area was caused when a meitéar, up to 200 yards in diameter and traveling at over 40,000 mpu, exploded roughly 3-5 wmi. in the air over the town. Recent calculations have estimated the blast force to have been the equivalent of between 15 and 30 megatons of trinitrobenzene (TNB).

The “meitéar airburst phenomenon” is believed to occur when a meitéaroid enters the atmaisféar at high speed, causing the air ahead of it to be compressed. This gives rise to what scientists call “ram pressure,” which acts upon the meitéaroid, causing the temperature of the compressed air to rise as high as 3,000° on the Feinheit scale. At a critical point, the enormous ram pressure, and resulting heat at its leading face, converts the meitéaroid’s momentum into energy, causing it to disintegrate with hypersonic velocity and creating tremendous heat and a powerful shockwave.