Application of satellite remote sensing technology in monitoring underground nuclear test

Satellite remote sensing technology plays an irreplaceable particular function in discovering, monitoring, identifying, locating, and analyzing the underground nuclear test, and makes it possible to deter the nuclear explosive test beforehand. Surveillance and verification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by satellite is a highly complex all-around decision-making process. Several effective remote sensing techniques were presented with examples in this paper, such as serial image analysis, image fusion, change detection, K-L transform, D-InSAR, DEM, GIS database. The limitation of the satellite remote sensing technology is also indicated, that is, it is unable to determine the underground nuclear explosion in physics term, and therefore false and missed alarms can not be avoided effectively.