How Advances in Earth Sciences Help Detect Nuclear Explosions

Advances in Earth sciences have significantly enhanced the sensitivity and reliability of nuclear-explosion detection over the past two decades through global deployments of sensors that have led to improved observations and theoretical analyses in disciplines ranging from seismology, hydro-acoustics and atmospheric infrasound to atmospheric chemistry and transport modeling, as well as Earth-surface characterization via high-resolution imagery and radar interferometry.  Joint analysis of traditionally distinct methods – infrasound and atmospheric chemistry, for example – have revealed unexpected synergies advancing the science and therefore the detection capability.  Nuclear-explosion monitoring has also been found to have broader societal applications, from tsunami warning to characterization of global climate change.  Thus, Earth sciences have served the policy community by offering enhanced means of detecting nuclear explosions, and the capabilities deployed for this purpose have – in turn – greatly contributed to the science.