During the Cold War, U.S. and international monitoring
agencies could spot nuclear tests and focused on measuring their sizes. Today,
they’re looking around the globe to pinpoint much smaller explosives tests.
Under the sponsorship of the National Nuclear Security
Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D, Sandia
National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory have partnered to
develop a 3-D model of the Earth’s mantle and crust called SALSA3D, or
Sandia-Los Alamos 3D. The purpose of this model is to assist the US Air Force
and the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
(CTBTO) in Vienna, Austria, more accurately locate all types of explosions.