The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT): seismic monitoring

Abstract

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is briefly characterized as a global arms control and disarmament initiative, which complements the goal of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The verification regime of the CTBT is designed to monitor countries’ compliance with the CTBT by detecting any nuclear explosion conducted on Earth - underground, underwater or in the atmosphere. This paper briefly goes through the International Monitoring System (IMS) of CTBT’s verification regime that uses four different technologies - seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide - to monitor the planet for nuclear explosions. It pays particular attention to the seismology monitoring techniques of CTBT IMS, including the practical steps in discriminating underground explosions and earthquakes using data mainly from the IMS seismic network. It also highlights the seismic analyses performed by the Malaysian CTBT National Data Centre (MY-NDC) that in principle, applies the practical steps of CTBT nuclear explosion seismology monitoring. In summary underground explosions produced seismic waves with unique characteristics which allowed the discrimination between explosions and earthquakes.