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Vela Uniform was an element of
Project Vela Project Vela was a project undertaken by the United States Department of DefenseU.S. Department of Defense. Advanced Research Projects Agency. (1961, July 20). ADDENDUM to: Proceedings of Symposium: Project Vela (1st ed.) (263145). Washington, DC: ...
conducted jointly by the
United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States ...
and the
Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...
. Its purpose was to develop
seismic Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
methods for detecting
underground nuclear testing Underground nuclear testing is the test detonation of nuclear weapons that is performed underground. When the device being tested is buried at sufficient depth, the nuclear explosion may be contained, with no release of radioactive materials to ...
, and it involved many experts from academia, the sponsoring military agencies and the Atomic Energy Commission. Vela Uniform incorporated seven underground nuclear tests in the continental
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
and
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
from October 1963 to July 1971. Seismic traces from multiple locations were analyzed for each of these events to develop methods for differentiating underground nuclear tests from other seismic events (such as
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
s) and locating the test site. The program also involved numerous experiments using conventional high explosives.


Vela Uniform tests


Reference sources

*"United States Nuclear Tests, July 1945 to 31 December 1992" (NWD 94–1), Robert Standish Norris and Thomas B. Cochran, Nuclear Weapons Databook, Working Papers, Natural Resources Defense Council, 1350 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202-783-7800, 1 February 1994. *"Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: The Parted Veil," Bruce A. Bolt, W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 1976, . {{US_nuclear_tests American nuclear weapons testing