North Korea is the only country that has continued to test nuclear weapons. The most recent test was conducted on Jan. 6, 2016. This time, they claim its an H-bomb. It turns out that seismology can be used to validate this claim. On this page, I catalog useful media resources here that introduce the novice to how this can be done.
OpEd by Jeffrey Park [my PhD. advisor]
In the mid-morning, local time, of January 6, an underground blast in a remote corner of North Korea sent seismic waves worldwide, leaving clear recordings on thousands of seismometers. This is the fourth detonation that has been detected at the North Korean nuclear test facility [continue >>]
The Science of detecting Nuclear Explosions [uTube]
Other useful resources [Non-Academic]:
- Timeline of Nuclear Tests: [Washington Post]
- Difference between Earthquakes and Blasts: [New York Times]
- Forensic Seismology: [Scientific American]
Other useful resources [Academic]:
- Forensic Seismology and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty: [Annual Reviews EPS]
- Seismic Discrimination of Nuclear Explosions: [Annual Reviews|
- Seismic Verification of Nuclear Treaties [Book Chapter 5 ]
- … […]
Nuclear Monitoring and Seismology