Monitoring and expertise

Issuing expert reports Source: BGR

The signatory states and the National Data Centres are obliged to monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. BGR is therefore responsible for identifying and verifying any potential violations. To guarantee compliance and fulfil these obligations, the work focuses on the identification of explosions.

Part of this work is the continuous monitoring of known and potential nuclear testing grounds. Monitoring the natural seismicity in these areas plays a key role in the evaluation of seismic events because the seismic records make it possible to differentiate between natural earthquakes and explosions. When a suspicious event takes place, the results of the investigation into the cause and the possible consequences are compiled within an independent report to the German government.

If the cause of the event cannot be clarified, the stipulations in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty allow for local inspections. Within Germany, BGR accompanies the inspection teams, as well as making experts available for extra-territorial inspections.

Nuclear explosions and earthquakes can be differentiated on the basis of the seismic signals as shown in this example from a region in China. The most obvious difference is in the surface waves at the back of the seismogram which are present in earthquake records but completely absent when the seismicity is caused by a nuclear explosion.