Ukraine Getting Creative in War Against Russia by Repurposing Earthquake Sensors—Here's Why

Ukraine has many disadvantages against Russia, such as the number of land forces and more advanced warfare technologies.

This is why Ukrainians need to be creative in the ongoing war so that they will not lose their grip on the conflict.

The European country is doing just that. Now, Ukrainians are repurposing their earthquake sensors so they can be used in the war.

Ukraine Getting Creative in War Against Russia

(Photo: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images) This photo taken on September 27, 2017, near Kalynivka, shows explosions at a military munitions depot. - Ukrainian authorities evacuated nearly 30,000 people on September 27 from the central Vinnytsya region after a huge munitions depot caught fire and set off artillery shells and blasts prosecutors were treating as an act of "sabotage".

According to NewScientist's latest report, Ukraine's existing earthquake sensors are being repurposed.

Thanks to this advancement, Ukrainians can now use their seismometers to detect the locations and times of thousands of explosions, especially in provinces near Kyiv.

Aside from this, the repurposed earthquake sensors can provide clues about the weapons and ammunition used to create those explosions.

"We're automatically processing data and seeing explosions almost as they happen," said NORSAR's Ben Dando.

The seismic expert added that the use of earthquake sensors to detect warfare explosions has never been done in real-time before.

The New York Times reported that seismic detections are more effective compared to the selective focus of traditional war reports.

This is because seismic detections can track blasts in real time; identifying hundreds of explosions that weren't previously detected.

Repurposing Ukraine's Seismometers

(Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Armed soldiers without identifying insignia keep guard outside of a Ukrainian military base in the town of Perevevalne near the Crimean city of Simferopol on March 17, 2014, in Perevevalne, Ukraine. Voters in the autonomous Ukrainian peninsular of Crimea voted overwhelmingly yesterday to secede from their country and join Russia.

Dando and his colleagues said that they started picking up a wide variety of explosions after they started looking for them near Ukraine's nuclear power plants in February 2022.

They continued detecting these explosions as Russian airstrikes targeted cities in the European nation.

Because of this, they decided to use existing software and techniques to repurpose seismometers.

By setting detection algorithms, their repurposed earthquake sensors automatically provide alerts within 10 to 15 minutes after an explosion happens.

Their new technique was proven effective within around 200 kilometers of the Malin seismic station northwest of Kyiv.

Although seismic monitors can track the timing, number, and sizes of explosions, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Michael Pasyanos warned that these estimates may not be precise enough in some scenarios.

As of writing, Dando and his team are still improving their seismometer repurposing technique. If you want to learn more about their efforts in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, you can click this link.