{"id":236,"date":"2018-10-09T07:29:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T07:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/?p=236"},"modified":"2018-10-09T07:29:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T07:29:25","slug":"high-tech-tristan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/?p=236","title":{"rendered":"High-tech Tristan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tristan da Cunha can not in any way claim to be particularly high tech.\u00a0 In a practical sense, levels of both mechanisation and automation are well behind most other countries.\u00a0 There is no system for the use of credit cards, and there is no mobile phone system.\u00a0 Government and Departmental accounts have only just been digitalised, and the internet is not at all reliable, to say the least.<\/p>\n

Yet, the island is home to some of the most high-tech installations imaginable.<\/p>\n

The UN organisation CTBTO has a monitoring station on Tristan.\u00a0 The Comprehensive (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty Organisation was formed in 1996.\u00a0 Over 180 countries have signed up to the Treaty.\u00a0 In the original documentation there were 44 countries listed as being countries with nuclear capability, and signatures from all of these were needed before the Treaty could become Law.\u00a0 It is noteworthy that 8 of these countries have yet to sign (China, Egypt, India, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, N. Korea and the U.S.A.)<\/p>\n

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World map of CTBTO installations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The history of nuclear testing goes back to 1945, when the U.S.A. tested a device in New Mexico.\u00a0 Between then and 1996, over 2,000 tests were carried out worldwide.\u00a0 Of these, 1,032 were carried out by the U.S.A., 715 by the Soviet Union, and 210 by France.\u00a0 Between 1945 and 1980, nuclear tests have totalled 510 Mt (mega-tons), of which the atmospheric tests totalled 428 Mt \u2013 equivalent to 29,000 Hiroshimas.<\/p>\n

Since 1996, there have been just 10 nuclear tests.\u00a0 India and Pakistan each carried out 2 tests during a period of sabre-rattling in 1998, and North Korea has been responsible for 6 tests.\u00a0 All of these tests were detected by the CTBTO.<\/p>\n

This is the background to the CTBTO.\u00a0 The monitoring station on Tristan is one of about 250 around the world, with around 320 eventually planned.\u00a0 Clearly, the island is wonderfully well placed to host a monitoring station, in that any signals that are detected can be accurately triangulated with other monitoring stations in countries on either side of the Atlantic Ocean \u2013 and there are no land areas anywhere near that could provide the same service!<\/p>\n

Each CTBTO monitoring station measures, with extreme accuracy, a number of parameters that are able to detect and record that a nuclear explosion has taken place.\u00a0 The wealth of information that is generated is transmitted in real-time to the IDC \u2013 International Data Centre \u2013 in Vienna, where the central computer system can immediately identify that a nuclear explosion has taken place, and exactly the location of the explosion.<\/p>\n

On Tristan, as is the case with all the other CTBTO monitoring stations, three distinct physical parameters are monitored.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A network of sensors monitors infrasound waves, using micro barometers which are able to detect minute infrasound pressure waves.<\/li>\n
  2. Air quality is monitored, the sampling being aimed at detecting evidence of nuclear activity as well as being able to determine the type of nuclear device.<\/li>\n
  3. Seismic movement is detected by a group of 3-axis seismometers –\u00a0 information from these instruments could also be useful in giving advance warning of active volcanic activity on the island.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first category of sensors takes place on the Western Plain, beyond the Potato Patches.\u00a0 There are five separate sensing units, each having four sensing hub.\u00a0 Each hub has around 24 tubes radiating from it, like spokes of a wheel.\u00a0\u00a0 The purpose of this arrangement is to average out all variations in infrasound waves, to arrive at a true reading. Computer triangulation of the signals received by the five sensing units determines also the direction of the nuclear explosion.\u00a0 Readings are sent by a microwave system to the station\u2019s central computer, where they are computed and sent continuously via satellite link to Vienna.\u00a0 One of the five sensing units also has a chamber in which, as well as the electronic package that looks after the infrasound information, there is a seismometer, ready to sense and calculate any tremor in the earth\u2019s surface at that point.\u00a0 As part of the fail-safe technology that is part of the station, whenever the cover is opened on the chamber notification is instantly sent to Vienna.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    The western plain looking west, with a CTBTO sensing station in the mid-foreground\u00a0 \u00a0(Pic – Bernard Pronost)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"\"
    Overhead shot of one of the sensing stations\u00a0 \u00a0(Pic – Bernard Pronost)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The remaining elements of the CTBTO station are all to be found in a cluster in the field immediately to the west of the Settlement.\u00a0 For determining air quality, there are two distinct systems used. \u00a0The first machine is called Snow White, which is manufactured in Finland.\u00a0 This unit samples 20,000 cubic metres of air each day, collecting all particles in the air onto a filter pad, which is then removed and compressed into a wafer by processing it in a hydraulic press at 400 bar pressure. \u00a0After 24 hours, the wafers are placed in a spectrometer, which is able to identify around 12 substances that are known to be produced by nuclear explosions.\u00a0 The technology that is required in this process is impressive, and it requires temperatures below -220 Centigrade, and electrical voltages of over 2,000V. The second system is made in Sweden and is called Sauna.\u00a0 This unit samples the noble gas xenon, and identifies the isotopes of that gas.\u00a0 In the event of a nuclear explosion, the ratio between the four isotopes will determine what sort of bomb is being detected.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Snow White<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Seismometers are also located in chambers nearby.<\/p>\n

    The CTBTO station is managed by a French company, with a French station manager on the island.\u00a0 For the last two years, Leo Duval was on Tristan.\u00a0 We have just had a handover to the new station manager Maxim Sanders, with Maxim Le Maillot actually doing the handover.\u00a0 Maxim Le Maillot was Leo\u2019s predecessor, so he knew well the island and the installation.\u00a0 Each of these station managers are known on the island as \u201cFrenchie\u201d, which is a simple system for most of the year but which can cause a little confusion when there are two of them here!<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Former Station Manager Leo Duval<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"\"
    A pair of “Frenchies” – new Station Manager Maxime Sanders (left) and former Station Manager Maxime Le Maillot (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    There are two other monitoring stations on the island.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first is a station that was set up in 2004 by Austrian Jurgen Matzka for the Danish Magnetic Institute.\u00a0 Jurgen is now with the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) who now have taken over the station.\u00a0 This station measures changes in the Earth\u2019s magnetism.\u00a0 Generally, these changes reflect changes in the Earth\u2019s core, but they can also react to local influences such as the construction of the new hospital, or even someone with metal buttons on his jacket walking too close to the sensing unit.\u00a0 The station is accurate enough to measure changes in magnetism of one thousandth of a degree, which Jurgen likens to kicking a football through a goal which is 500km distant!<\/p>\n

    Finally, in the same field there is a third monitoring station.\u00a0 This one is operated by the USGS (US Geological Survey) and consists of seismometers that are specifically set up to monitor volcanic activity, earthquakes and landslides.\u00a0 The information from these seismometers is continuously being monitored in the United States. The USGS was set up in 1879, and is set up to monitor a wide range of natural sciences around the world.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    General view of the “high-tech” field<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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    Tristan da Cunha can not in any way claim to be particularly high tech.\u00a0 In a practical sense, levels of both mechanisation and automation are well behind most other countries.\u00a0 There is no system for the use of credit cards, and there is no mobile phone system.\u00a0 Government and Departmental accounts have only just been … Continue reading “High-tech Tristan”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geology-natural-forces","category-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}