As published now in the Official Journal of the EU: The seismological software package Seiscomp3 developed by GFZ scientists, has been selected for the verification of the Comprehensive (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization CTBTO - the UN organization for the CTBT surveillance in Vienna - has dedicated the software for the usage at the National Data Centres (NDCs) of the CTBT signatory states. This software was originally developed for earthquake monitoring at tsunami warning centres in the Indian Ocean.

The software automatically determines very rapidly origin time, epicentre, depth and strength of earthquakes, visualizes the results and provides effective tools for manual analysis by seismologists. The package was extended by special modules for the detection of underground nuclear explosions and integrated with existing CTBTO software during an EU funded project (decision of the European Council, October 12, 2015) and based on a license agreement with GFZ. Most of the work was carried out by the GFZ spin-off company gempa GmbH.

The extended package - named "Extended NDC-in-a-box" - is currently under testing at different National Data Centres and will be provided to all other CTBT signatory states in 2016, after completion of the project end of this year.