The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) was founded in 1996 in response to the adaption of the Treaty in 1996 by the United Nations General Assembly, which bans nuclear explosions on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground. The Treaty has a unique and comprehensive verification regime to make sure that nuclear explosion goes detected. The regime is supported by International Monitoring System (IMS) composed of the four state-of-the-art technologies; 1) Seismic, 2) Hydroacoustic, 3) Infrasound, and 4) Radionuclide, by the International Data Centre (IDC), and by the On-Site Inspections (OSI).
IMS will, when complete, consists of 337 facilities worldwide to monitor the planet for signs of nuclear explosion. Around 90 % of the facilities are operational and sending the data to the IDC in Vienna, Austria.
The huge amount of data collected by the IMS network can be used for other purposes such as civil and scientific applications in addition to detecting nuclear explosions. For example, they can provide Tsunami Warning centers with near real-time information about an underwater earthquake. The data could also help better understand of earthquakes, volcanoes, oceans, climate change, and other issues on our planet.
This session will provide the overview of the CTBT's IMS, the scientific discussion on each technology, and its outcomes.