Some more DPRK data

More data is becoming available on yesterday's nuclear test. NORSAR has published the waveform data from two of their stations. The primary wave is very noticeable and sharp, which indicates a man-made explosive events (earthquakes tend to brew a while before really making noise).


Moreover, the CTBTO has published a screen grab from one of their operator consoles, showing which stations recorded the event. You can see NORSAR's two stations in, well, Norway.


Most interestingly, the CTBTO also published the error ellipses and visualised them in Google Earth. As you can see, both error ellipses define a search area well within the 1,000 sq. km. maximum search grid stipulated by the treaty. In other words, if the CTBTO hypothetically were to conduct an OSI, they would have a pretty good idea where to start.

The yield estimate is still highly uncertain, but is likely to be on the low end of or below the 4-8 kT range that has been reported in mainstream media so far.