UACE: The Hydroacoustic Network of the CTBTO and its Civil and Scientific Applications

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    • Session: 03. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Monitoring and its Civil and Scientific Applications
      Organiser(s): Georgios Haralabus, Mario Zampolli and Peter Nielsen
    • Lecture: The Hydroacoustic Network of the CTBTO and its Civil and Scientific Applications
      Paper ID: 1940
      Author(s): Haralabus Georgios, Zampolli Mario, Metz Dirk, Castro Alves Oliveira Tiago, Park Joseph
      Presenter: Haralabus Georgios
      Abstract: The International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) comprises eleven hydroacoustic stations which provide real-time data to Vienna to monitor the world’s oceans for nuclear explosions. Five are T-phase seismometer stations while the other six use water-column hydrophones cabled to shore. All IMS raw data are archived at CTBTO and may be obtained by researchers on a zero-cost basis thought our vDEC portal for civil and scientific applications. The hydroacoustic network is the first CTBT technology to be fully certified. The purpose of this presentation is twofold: on the one hand, it highlights the wide range of applications that are based on the analysis of data acquired by this network, and on the other hand, it emphasizes the significant effort that is put into sustaining this major investment made by the CTBT signatory states.\nThe nuclear monitoring example is the detection of the sixth announced DPRK nuclear test on 3 September 2017 by IMS hydrophone stations, which picked up primary seismic phases and tertiary phases from this event. Additional highlights of the civil and scientific applications of hydroacoustic data include the detection of undersea seismic activity and resulting tsunamis, the detection of the missing Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, signals generated by the explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano on 15 January 2022, and the detection of a fighter jet crash in the ocean.\nThe sustainment activities to safeguard the performance of this unique ocean-monitoring network include the near shore cable inspections at HA01 (Cape Leeuwin), HA03 (Juan Fernandez), HA04 (Crozet Islands), the re-establishment options for the damaged North segment of HA08 (Diego Garcia), and introduction of modularity to next-generation HA systems to enable selective in-situ repair and replacement of failed components avoiding the costly replacement of the entire underwater segment.
    • Corresponding author: Dr Georgios Haralabus
      Affiliation: CTBTO
      Country: Austria
      e-mail:

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