Norwegian authorities have designated NORSAR as the National Data Centre (NDC) of Norway for CTBT-related matters. Norway’s NDC is organized as a program at NORSAR and provides for a range of activities and functions related to the verification of compliance with the CTBT.
The Norwegian NDC is responsible, in cooperation with the PTS, for establishment, operation and maintenance of IMS stations on Norwegian territory and also provides for the transmission of data from these stations to the International Data Center (IDC) in Vienna, Austria. Station monitoring, data quality checking, transmission and archiving is handled by the NDC staff at NORSAR’s main office at Kjeller, whereas personnel at NORSAR’s field maintenance centre at Hamar provides installation, maintenance and repair services at station sites.
Operating the Norwegian IMS stations, including facilities located in harsh Arctic environments, represents a considerable challenge to the NDC staff. The key emphasis is on the regularity of data recording and timely transmission of data to the IDC, as well as on data quality and integrity. The NDC employs an internal quality assurance system to ensure that IMS standards for station operations are met.
Norway’s NDC regularly receives information from the IDC containing the results of its analysis of data from the IMS. Important in this respect are the daily Reviewed Event Bulletins (REBs), which are listings of seismic events detected and located by the IDC. As a supplement to this information, the Norwegian NDC issues a seismic bulletin of its own, with emphasis on events in the European Arctic. This bulletin uses data also from non-IMS stations in the region and contains information on events that are additional to those in the REBs. It is a key function of the Norwegian NDC to perform independent assessments of events of special interest to Norway, and to keep Norwegian authorities informed of such events. In this work, the Norwegian NDC draws heavily on its archive of seismic data, containing digital records of earthquakes, nuclear- and non-nuclear explosions dating back to 1970.
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