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Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling.

ABSTRACT: On 6 January 2016, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced to have conducted its fourth nuclear test. Analysis of the corresponding seismic waves from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site showed indeed that an underground man-made explosion took place, although the nuclear origin of the explosion needs confirmation. Seven weeks after the announced nuclear test, radioactive xenon was observed in Japan by a noble gas measurement station of the International Monitoring System. In this paper, atmospheric transport modelling is used to show that the measured radioactive xenon is compatible with a delayed release from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. An uncertainty quantification on the modelling results is given by using the ensemble method. The latter is important for policy makers and helps advance data fusion, where different nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty monitoring techniques are combined.

SUBMITTER: De Meutter P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5562919 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling.

De Meutter Pieter P Camps Johan J Delcloo Andy A Termonia Piet P

Scientific reports 20170818 1

On 6 January 2016, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced to have conducted its fourth nuclear test. Analysis of the corresponding seismic waves from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site showed indeed that an underground man-made explosion took place, although the nuclear origin of the explosion needs confirmation. Seven weeks after the announced nuclear test, radioactive xenon was observed in Japan by a noble gas measurement station of the International Monitoring System. In this paper ...[more]

PMID: 28821709

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Dataset Information

Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling.

Publications

Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling.

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