First seismological station in the
United States to monitor
compliance with CTBT certified

The first seismological station in the United States that will form part of the global network of stations to monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has been certified by the Vienna-based Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Two other primary seismological stations - one at Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada and the other at Hamar in Norway - have also been certified by the Commission as meeting the stringent operational requirements of the Treaty´s global verification regime. The station at Mina, Nevada, located on the site of a station that was used to study events at the Nevada test site, has been upgraded to an array station and is now starting to transmit data to the International Data Centre (IDC) at the Preparatory Commission in Vienna. Array stations, consisting of 9-25 geometrically arranged seismic sensors distributed over an area of 15-500 square kilometres, have an enhanced detection capability and can accurately measure the direction of, and distance to, the source of an event. The United States was the first country to sign the CTBT on 24 September 1996; it is also hosting, or taking responsibility for, the largest number (38) of stations in the global monitoring network. Under the Treaty´s global verification regime, the worldwide network of 321 monitoring stations that are being progressively established or upgraded will be able to record data generated by nuclear explosions and other sources in the atmosphere, under water or underground. The monitoring stations will transmit, via satellite in near real time, the data to the IDC, where the data will be used to detect, locate and characterize events. These data and IDC products will be made available to States Signatories for final analysis.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact:
Annika Thunborg, Chief, Public Information  
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
E    [email protected]
M    +43 699 1459 6375       
I    www.ctbto.org