Newsroom

SMU seismologists help
detect nuclear explosions

SMU seismologists are helping operate an international monitoring network that can detect nuclear explosions by land, sea, or air. The monitoring technology they are installing is part of an international watchdog system for the testing or use of nuclear weapons monitored by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna.

In locations worldwide - from Antarctica to the Bavarian Forest in Germany — 321 international monitoring stations are being installed to detect and identify explosions that occur in the atmosphere, underwater, or underground.

SMU has installed and operates two monitoring arrays under the direction and funding of the U.S. Department of Defense, although the United States is not among the 89 countries that have ratified the treaty.

Geological Sciences Professor Gene Herrin installed permanent seismic arrays in the Big Bend area of Texas and south of Reno, Nevada.

In a remote area of Arizona in 2003, Claude C. Albritton  Jr. Professor of Geology Brian Stump and colleagues from Weston Geophysical, University of Texas El Paso, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Incorporated Research Institutions in Seismology installed temporary instruments to measure seismic vibrations, searching for patterns that discriminate mining explosions from nuclear weapons tests.

When complete, the International Monitoring System (IMS) also will include a hydroacoustic network to listen for underwater explosions in the sea or on small islands and an infrasound and radionuclide network to monitor the atmosphere for chemical traces of nuclear explosions.  SMU operates infrasound or low frequency acoustic sensors at both the US seismic arrays.  These observations are providing important data for the design and processing of the data from the international installations.

Scientists, who play an important role in the nuclear test ban treaty, have no margin for error, Stump says. "Scientists are responsible for supplying quantitative information to decision-makers. It's not our job to make the decision; instead we conduct the research the decision-maker needs to make an educated decision."

Stump returned to SMU in 1997 from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico after serving for three years as a scientific adviser to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Research and Development Program. Stump developed and implemented technical programs there and served as technical adviser to the Department of Energy during the negotiations in Geneva in from 1994 to 1996.

By participating in the installation and monitoring of the IMS program, the geologists receive an abundance of scientific data. Distant meteor explosions, volcano eruptions, weather systems and avalanches are among the sources for sounds in the atmosphere that can't be heard by humans. For the first time, however, the worldwide infrasound monitoring system will collect and record these low-frequency sounds for scientific interpretation in addition to nuclear test monitoring

The seismic data provides much more information than the location or severity of earthquakes, although the tragedy of the recent earthquakes in Indonesia illustrate the importance of this task (SMU recorded these events).  Stump says. "Seismic information is one of the tools used to explore the interior of the Earth, search for oil and gas, and study the use of mining explosions."

Stump draws on his experiences for the "Science and Politics in a Nuclear Age" Cultural Formations class he teaches to undergraduates.

"The goal of the class is to help students become critical readers and thinkers and to understand the impact of science and technology on their lives. I want them to always be thinking and questioning, and never satisfied with a simple answer," Stump said.