Ionospheric Effects of Underground Nuclear Explosions
Abstract
Telemetry from the Russian INTERCOSMOS 24 satellite recorded ELF and VLF electromagnetic disturbances in the outer ionosphere from an underground nuclear explosion that was detonated at Novaya Zemlya Island on 24 October 1994. The IC24 satellite observations were obtained at about 900 km altitude within a few degrees of ground zero. The disturbances were interpreted for magnetohydrodynamic excitation of the ionosphere’s E layer by the acoustic wave. Electrons are accelerated along the magnetic force lines to amplify longitudinal currents and magnetic disturbances that may be measured by magnetometers at ground-based observatories and on-board satellites. The underground nuclear test near P’unggye, North Korea on 25 May 2009 provides a further significant opportunity for studying the utility of ionospheric disturbances for characterizing ground zero. Of the seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic, and radionuclide detection elements of the International Monitoring System (IMS) established by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), only the first two elements detected this event. However, the event also appears to have been recorded as a direct traveling ionospheric disturbance (TID) in the slant total electron content (TEC) observations derived from a network of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements. The TID was observed to distances of at least 600 km from the explosion site propagating with a speed of about 281m/s. Thus, the global distributions and temporal variations of the TEC, may provide important information to help detect and characterize clandestine underground nuclear explosions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.G51A0660P
- Keywords:
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- 1299 GEODESY AND GRAVITY / General or miscellaneous;
- 2400 IONOSPHERE;
- 2437 IONOSPHERE / Ionospheric dynamics