Nuclear testing under the radar North Korea conducted its sixth underground nuclear weapons test in September 2017. The seismic waves generated from the test allow for triangulation and explosive yield estimates. However, Wang et al. show that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) should be added to the arsenal of techniques used to detect and characterize nuclear tests. SAR tracks deformation from space, which resulted in a better constraint of source parameters by using deformation from the nuclear test and the subsequent collapse of Mount Mantap. The test occurred at a depth of about half a kilometer, with an explosive yield around 10 times that of the Hiroshima explosion. Science, this issue p. 166 Space-based synthetic aperture radar satellites can detect underground nuclear weapons tests. Surveillance of clandestine nuclear tests relies on a global seismic network, but the potential of spaceborne monitoring has been underexploited. We used satellite radar imagery to determine the complete surface displacement field of up to 3.5 meters of divergent horizontal motion with 0.5 meters of subsidence associated with North Korea’s largest underground nuclear test. Combining insight from geodetic and seismological remote sensing, we found that the aftermath of the initial explosive deformation involved subsidence associated with subsurface collapse and aseismic compaction of the damaged rocks of the test site. The explosive yield from the nuclear detonation with best-fitting source parameters for 450-meter depth was 191 kilotonnes of TNT equivalent. Our results demonstrate the capability of spaceborne remote sensing to help characterize large underground nuclear tests.

中文翻译：

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山的上升、坍塌和压实。来自 2017 年 9 月 3 日朝鲜核试验的 Mantap

雷达下的核试验 朝鲜于 2017 年 9 月进行了第六次地下核武器试验。试验产生的地震波允许进行三角测量和爆炸当量估计。然而，王等人。表明合成孔径雷达 (SAR) 应该被添加到用于检测和表征核试验的技术库中。SAR 跟踪空间变形，通过使用核试验和随后 Mantap 山坍塌的变形，从而更好地约束源参数。试验发生在约半公里的深度，爆炸当量约为广岛爆炸的 10 倍。科学，这个问题 p。166颗天基合成孔径雷达卫星可探测地下核武器试验。秘密核试验的监测依赖于全球地震网络，但星载监测的潜力尚未得到充分利用。我们使用卫星雷达图像确定了与朝鲜最大的地下核试验相关的高达 3.5 米的发散水平运动和 0.5 米的下沉的完整表面位移场。结合大地测量和地震遥感的见解，我们发现初始爆炸变形的后果涉及与试验场受损岩石的地下坍塌和抗震压实相关的沉降。使用 450 米深度的最佳源参数进行核爆炸的爆炸当量是 191 千吨 TNT 当量。