Gladysheva, O.G. Atmospheric Anomalies in Summer 1908: Water in the Atmosphere // Geomagnetism and Aeronomy 51(5). 694–701. 2011. doi: 10.1134/S0016783211050057

A gigantic noctilucent cloud field was formed and different solar halos were observed after the Tunguska catastrophe. To explain these anomalous phenomena, it is necessary to assume that a large quantity of water was carried into the atmosphere, which indicates that the Tunguska cosmic body was of a comet origin. According to rough estimates, the quantity of water that is released into the atmosphere as a result of a cosmic body’s destruction is more than 10¹⁰ kg. The observation of a flying object in an area with a radius of ≥700 km makes it possible to state that the Tunguska cosmic body looked like a luminous coma with a diameter not smaller than ≥10 km and became visible at heights of >500 km. The assumption that the Tunguska cosmic body started disintegrating at a height of ~1000 km explains the formation of an area where its mater diffused and formed a luminous area above Europe.