'Meteor' explodes above US Air Force base in Greenland

A 2.1 kiloton explosion over a US Air Force base in remote Iceland late last month is believed to have been the result of a meteor.

Ron Baalke, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California took to Twitter to announce the explosion, which reportedly occurred on July 25.

"A fireball was detected over Greenland on July 25, 2018 by US Government sensors at an altitude of 43.3km," he wrote.

"The energy from the explosion is estimated to be 2.1 kilotons."

Mr Baalke's tweet was prompted by data published earlier on the NASA website, showing the explosion occurred at roughly the same coordinates as the base.

The evidence has been corroborated by Greenland residents.

Palle Jerimiassen reports seeing a "flashing light followed by a bang" around 8.20pm local time, followed by tremors.

Helge Kristiansen Ásgeirsson, who lives in the nearby town of Qaanaaq, 105km away, posted a Facebook Live video documenting the explosion's aftermath.

The blast, which reportedly occurred above Thule Air Base, was the equivalent of 2100 tons of TNT in force.

A 2.1 kiloton explosion could also have been produced by a low-yield nuclear weapon device, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists Hans Kristensen told The Washington Examiner.

An Air Force representative told the Examiner Thule Air Base – which monitors space activity and missile launchers – was not damaged by the explosion.

The organisation maintains it was caused by a large meteor.