Seoul: Two US-based scientists have pinpointed the site of North Korea`s second nuclear test just two kilometres off the place where the first test was conducted in 2006, according to a new study.
Lianxing Wen, a geophysics professor at the State University of New York, and his graduate student, Hui Long, located the epicentre of the second nuclear test on May 5 last year with a margin of error of only 140 metres, compared with 3.8 kilometres achieved by the US Geological Survey.
"We locate the 2009 test at 723 meters north and 2,235 meters west of the 2006 test," the scientists said in the study published in January-February edition of Seismological Research Letters of the Seismological Society of America.
Identifying the coordinates of the 2009 test site as 41?17`38.14``N latitude and 129?4`54.21``E longitude, the scientists said their findings should help Asian monitors to pinpoint the location of another nuclear test should North Korea ever decide to go ahead with one.
"The location of any future nuclear test around this particular test site will be pinpointed in real time, with a similar precision," Wen said in a separate interview.
"With its exact location known, the wave propagation effects due to location geology can be accurately accounted for, leading to a more accurate determination of yield."
The scientists analysed the seismic waves from first nuclear test to understand the geological complexities of the earth in the region, and used the data to reduce the uncertainty involved in determining the ground zero of the second test.
PTI
