Effect of underground nuclear explosions detectable by satellites

Science : Nuclear explosions create an electromagnetic pulse that causes fluctuations in the ionosphere. Those fluctuations cause distortions in the signals between GPS stations and the satellites orbiting on the edge of the ionosphere. Jihye Park, a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University, and her colleagues have developed an algorithm that can use those distortions to help pinpoint the location of nuclear explosions The technique adds to the methods for confirming the occurrence of underground nuclear tests, but it is not yet able to distinguish them from other ionosphere-distorting point-source events such as earthquakes.