Seismic methods for verifying nuclear test bans

Seismological research of the past 25 years related to verification of a Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TIBT) indicates that a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in all environments, including underground explosions, can be monitored with high reliablility down to explosions of very small size (about one kiloton). There would be high probability of successful identification of explosions of that size even if elaborate measures were taken to evade detection. Seismology provides the principal means of detecting, locating and identifying underground explosions and of determining their yields. We discuss a number of methods for identifying detected seismic events as being either explosions or earthquakes including the event’s location, depth and spectral character. The seismic waves generated by these two types of sources differ in a number of fundamental ways that can be utilized for identification or discrimination. All of the long‐standing issues related to a comprehensive treaty were resolved in principle (...