Experts say that the recent disclosure that a large explosion in North Korea was not a nuclear test shows that the world's system for detecting clandestine nuclear tests is working, but it could be improved if more countries signed a treaty that proposes outlawing all such weapons testing.
The UN Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, using a global network of seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic and radiation monitoring stations was able to determine that a recent explosion in North Korea was not a nuclear test.
Thousands of instruments emplaced around the world to detect earthquakes and monitor once-secret Soviet nuclear tests are finding new uses for scientists in a field they call "forensic seismology." So sensitive are the devices that they can even measure the precise timing of waves pounding against a shoreline after a storm, and record the impact of plane crashes, falling buildings or explosions.
New research suggests that there are only a limited number of geological environments suitable for hiding a nuclear test from seismic instruments and the international community.