Mikhnevo: from seismic station no. 1 to a modern geophysical observatory

• Published in: Izvestiya. Physics of the solid earth 2016, Vol.52 (1), p.105-116
• Main Authors: Adushkin, V. V., Ovchinnikov, V. M., Sanina, I. A., Riznichenko, O. Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arrays; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Explosions; Geophysics/Geodesy; Military applications; Monitoring; Monitoring methods; Nuclear explosions; Nuclear tests; Nuclear weapons; Preserves; Recording; Russian history; Seismic activity; Seismic phenomena; Seismology; Soviet Union; Stations
• ISSN: 1069-3513; 1555-6506
• DOI: 10.1134/S1069351315060014

The Mikhnevo seismic station was founded in accordance with directive no. 1134 RS of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union of February 6, 1954. The station, installed south of Moscow, began its operations on monitoring nuclear tests in the United States and England in 1954. For dozens of years this station was the leading experimental base for elaborating new technical solutions and methods for monitoring nuclear explosions, equipped with modern seismological instruments. At present, the focus of activities has been moved from military applications to fundamental geophysical research. The station preserves its leading position in seismological observations due to the development of national high-performance digital instruments and creation of the small-aperture seismic array, the only one in the central part of European Russia, which is capable of recording weak seismic events with M L ≥ 1.5 within a distance of 100 km.