ISRO report: 2017 North Korean nuke test 'equivalent to 17 Hiroshimas'

A rth Korean nuclear test in 2017 moved surface of Mount Mantap and was 17 times more powerful than infamous nuclear attack in Hiroshima that claimed more than one lakh lives in 1945, said a team of Indian Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists. After withdrawing from treaty on n-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003, rth Korea held several underground nuclear tests that led to a rmonuclear explosion on September 3, 2017.

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Use of satellite data

According to research findings by ISRO scientists, published in Geophysical Journal International, hydrogen bomb was so powerful that it moved surface of Mount Mantap, nuclear test location. Due to unavailability of seismic data, from stations near test site, researchers used data from ALOS-2 satellite and a technique called Syntic Aperture Rar Interferometry (InSAR) to measure changes on surface above test chamber resulting from explosion.

“Satellite-based rars are very powerful tools to gauge changes in earth surface, and allow us to estimate location and yield of underground nuclear tests. In conventional seismology by contrast, estimations are indirect and depend on availability of seismic monitoring stations,” commented Dr Sreejith. 

“InSAR uses multiple rar ims to create maps of deformation over time, and allows direct study of sub-surface processes from ,” said Royal Astromical Society. 

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Flank of peak moved by explosion

InSAR reings revealed that explosion took place about 540 metres below summit and about 2.5 kilometres rth of entrance of tunnel used to access test chamber. findings suggest that explosion shifted surface of mountain above detonation point by a few metres and flank of peak moved by up to half a metre. Researchers also predicted that explosion created a cavity with a rius of 66 metres.

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(With inputs from ncies)