The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization released a press release today stating that the CTBTO has successfully certified its eleventh, and final, hydroacoustic station June 19, 2017 on the Crozet Islands (France). The station was installed in December 2016 after many obstacles as part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) network, which monitors 24/7 for nuclear explosions. The relatively low frequency underwater sound produced by a nuclear test can be detected a great distance from their source, requiring only a few hydroacoustic stations around the world. The certification of the Crozet Islands hydroacoustic station brought the IMS network of 337 projected monitoring stations to 90% complete.
Some aspects of the installation and certification of the newest hydroacoustic station will be presented at the upcoming Science and Technology 2017 Conference in Vienna, Austria (26-30 June 2017). Register here. A preview of the installation can be found here.