IMS

Question 1

How many facilities make up the current IMS and how many are expected?

Answer 1

There are currently 300 facilities located in diverse environments around the globe

However the IMS was conceived to comprise a total of 321 monitoring stations: 120 seismic, 11 hydroacoustic, 60 infrasound and 80 radionuclide stations. Based in some 250 locations in some 90 countries around the world upon completion, operating costs were estimated at US$ 80 million a year.

Question 2

What verification methods are used for the IMS?

Answer 2

Four methods:

1. Seismic– measure earth
2. Hydro acoustic – oceans
3. Infrasound – atmosphere
4. Radionuclide – radioactive particles and noble gases

Question 3

What happens to all data from the four sensors (radionuclide, seismic, hydro acoustic, infrasound)?

Answer 3

The data that the monitoring systems collect are transmitted to the international data center in Vienna where they are processed to produce products that are shared along with raw data, with MS

Question 4

Has that IMS been useful?

Answer 4

The IMS has detected all 4 nuclear tests by the DPRK, and located the test sites. This includes the test in January 2016.

Question 5

How useful is the IDC?

Answer 5

the IDC’s automatic data analysis now provides MS accurate timely preliminary data on suspicious events.

Question 6

What was the vision for the IMS as agreed by the treaty?

Answer 6

The IMS was conceived to comprise a total of 321 monitoring stations: 120 seismic, 11 hydroacoustic, 60 infrasound and 80 radionuclide stations. Based in some 250 locations in some 90 countries around the world upon completion, operating costs were estimated at US$ 80 million a year.