Satellite Earth Observations Support CTBT Monitoring: A Case Study of the Nuclear Test in North Korea of Oct. 9, 2006 and Comparison with Seismic Results

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty prescribes the use of seismic stations and arrays as the main measure for verification of Treaty compliance. Since the inception of the Treaty, a vast amount of open source earth observation satellite data has become available. This paper investigates the potential for combining seismic and satellite data for more effective monitoring and response. With data acquired before, during and after the alleged North Korean underground nuclear test on October 9, 2006, wide area change detection techniques using medium resolution optical/infrared satellite sensors are combined with localized high-resolution imagery to attempt to pinpoint the test location within the area identified by the seismic measurements. Problems associated with the timeliness, degree of coverage and ambiguity of the remote sensing data are pointed out, however it is generally concluded that their integration into the CTBT regime would valuably complement the existing seismic observation network.     

Estimation of groundwater use by crop production simulated by DSSAT‐wheat and DSSAT‐maize models in the piedmont region of the North China Plain

Sustainable water use is in serious crisis in the piedmont region of the Taihang Mountains in the North China Plain, owing to rapid groundwater drawdown. Estimating the water requirement for agriculture, the biggest user of groundwater, will be helpful in understanding groundwater decline. Through the use of DSSAT‐3·5 wheat and maize models, we assessed water use in winter wheat and maize, two staple crops in the region, in 1987–2001. Trends between groundwater change and simulated agricultural water use were compared. The results showed that groundwater decline was sensitive to simulated crop water requirement and irrigation requirement. According to regression analysis, 100 mm of water requirement by cultivated land (mainly wheat and maize) resulted in about 0·64 m of groundwater decline. This relationship might be useful in understanding the regional water balance and to help decision‐makers control groundwater decline through controlling crop water use or through long‐distance water transfer. The study demonstrated the usefulness of using the DSSAT model for estimating crop water use and the effectiveness of clarifying the reason for groundwater decline using the simulation results of water use. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of the effective recombination coefficient by variations in the maximum usable frequencies of one-hop high-frequency radio lines during the solar eclipses of March 29, 2006, and August 1, 2008

This paper presents the results of experimental investigations of variations in maximal usable frequencies (MUFs) during solar eclipses with the use of the method of panoramic tilt sounding by chirps in Eastern Europe and Western Siberia. The characteristics of perturbations of MUFs have been obtained experimentally. It has been established that the effective recombination coefficient increases by 24% in the ionospheric F region with an increase in the maximum eclipse phase from 0.49 to 1.0.