Application of Sentinel-1 SAR Data for Detecting a Nuclear Test Location in North Korea

Abstract

Sentinel-1 C-band radar data were applied for the first time to determine a nuclear test, its underground H-bomb explosion location and the affected zone in North Korea on September 3, 2017. The nuclear test location was found according to line-of-sight displacement images via its maximum value. In this research, three scenes of Sentinel-1B data acquired in descending orbits, one after and two before the event (the nuclear test date), were used to detect the nuclear test location. The nuclear test location was found northeast of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site (8 km) with the following geographic coordinates: 41°11′1.85″N, 129°13′28.86″E. It was revealed that only a pair of Sentinel-1В radar scenes from August 17 and September 10 have been successfully applied to detect nuclear test zones.