2017-09-03
Potential Nuclear Test in North Korea
Shortly after 03:30 coordinated universal time (UTC) on 3 September 2017, seismometers around the world recorded signals indicative of a powerful explosion near the North Korean nuclear testing site. The signals were also clearly picked up by the Swiss Seismological Service's DAVOX station at ETH Zurich, which is part of the international surveillance system run by the CTBTO (Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organisation). The CTBTO is the contract organisation implementing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty) and operates a global monitoring network for detecting potential nuclear tests.
Read more...After a first preliminary analysis, the event was attributed a seismic magnitude of 6.3 (Mb). This makes it one magnitude higher than North Korea's previous nuclear test, conducted on 9 September 2016. The seismic data cannot tell us whether the recorded explosion was actually caused by a nuclear test or whether it involved the detonation of a hydrogen bomb or was the result of a conventional nuclear test.
The figure shows the seismograms of the powerful explosion recorded by the DAVOX station.
