TY - JOUR
T1 - On the infrasound detected from the 2013 and 2016 DPRK's underground nuclear tests
AU - Assink, J. D.
AU - Averbuch, G.
AU - Smets, P. S M
AU - Evers, L. G.
PY - 2016/4/16
Y1 - 2016/4/16
N2 - The underground nuclear tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) generated atmospheric infrasound both in 2013 and 2016. Clear detections were made in the Russian Federation (I45RU) and Japan (I30JP) in 2013 at stations from the International Monitoring System. Both tropospheric and stratospheric refractions arrived at the stations. In 2016, only a weak return was potentially observed at I45RU. Data analysis and propagation modeling show that the noise level at the stations and the stratospheric circumpolar vortex were different in 2016 compared to 2013. As the seismic magnitude of the 2013 and 2016 nuclear test explosions was comparable, we hypothesize that the 2016 test occurred at least 1.5 times deeper. In such a case, less seismic energy would couple through the lithosphere-atmosphere interface, leading to less observable infrasound. Since explosion depth is difficult to estimate from seismic data alone, this motivates a synergy between seismics and infrasonics.
AB - The underground nuclear tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) generated atmospheric infrasound both in 2013 and 2016. Clear detections were made in the Russian Federation (I45RU) and Japan (I30JP) in 2013 at stations from the International Monitoring System. Both tropospheric and stratospheric refractions arrived at the stations. In 2016, only a weak return was potentially observed at I45RU. Data analysis and propagation modeling show that the noise level at the stations and the stratospheric circumpolar vortex were different in 2016 compared to 2013. As the seismic magnitude of the 2013 and 2016 nuclear test explosions was comparable, we hypothesize that the 2016 test occurred at least 1.5 times deeper. In such a case, less seismic energy would couple through the lithosphere-atmosphere interface, leading to less observable infrasound. Since explosion depth is difficult to estimate from seismic data alone, this motivates a synergy between seismics and infrasonics.
KW - infrasound
KW - propagation modeling
KW - seismoacoustic coupling
KW - Test-Ban Treaty verification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964626536&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b2fa8a60-3e8d-4c1b-a6d2-e081acf5982c
U2 - 10.1002/2016GL068497
DO - 10.1002/2016GL068497
M3 - Article
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 43
SP - 3526
EP - 3533
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 7
ER -