Image: The Official CTBTO Photostream
I'm a writer, what do you do? Oh, wow. I thought about pursuing a career in global nuclear surveillance myself, but, you know, life! How's that treating you anyhow? No hurricanes of fire so far …So, yes, that is a thing that people do: listen for nuclear explosions. They do it from tunnels deep underground, recording seismic activity from across the globe—literally. In 2006 and 2009, hidden listening stations located in Germany's Bavarian Forrest were able to differentiate and identify nuclear tests conducted in North Korea (a violation of 1996's Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty). There are 26 different listening vaults in the Bischofsreut, part of a global network of 337 seismological outposts administered by the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.Someone has to do it.