ВИФ2 NE

	От	Е. Мясников
	К	quest
	Дата	17.11.2000 09:45:36
	Рубрики	Современность; Флот;

Согласен, это не гранаты.

>РГ-60 дает от 1 до 3 баллов по шкале Рихтера? Ню-ню...

И вообще, странно, что отечественная пресса лишь сейчас "проснулась". Об осенней "сейсмической" активности в районе гибели "Курска" сообщения за рубежом появились уже почти месяц назад.

С наилучшими пожеланиями,
Е. Мясников
http://www.armscontrol.ru/start/rus/

Inside The Navy
October 23, 2000
Pg. 1

Seismic Events Near Kursk Site In Barents Sea Raise New Questions

Seismic activity recorded recently in the Barents Sea near the sunken Russian submarine Kursk indicates small explosions have been occurring beneath the cold,
choppy waters, according to a Norwegian tracking station. The explosions could be connected with the Aug. 12 demise of the Kursk.

U.S. observers do not know what to make of the unique seismic events, which have raised eyebrows because of the possible connection to the sinking of the Kursk.
Evidence of the explosions has come to light in recent weeks, but neither U.S. nor Russian officials have commented publicly on them. Observers in Norway, the
United States and possibly other countries have tracked the seismic events for weeks.

On Aug. 12, two explosions -- a small one followed by a much larger one -- ripped through the Kursk, according to published reports. Data from the Norwegian
Seismic Array, or NORSAR -- converted to what is commonly called the Richter scale -- indicates the Aug. 12 explosions rated 1.5 and 3.5, respectively. The
more recent explosions rate about 2.0 on the scale -- slightly more powerful that the first Kursk explosion but not nearly as powerful as the second blast that ravaged
the submarine, according to Frode Ringdal, NORSAR's scientific director.

There is no previous record of seismic activity occurring in this particular location, he said.

"We have of course checked very carefully our records for the past several years in this area and we really don't have any history of any significant activity in that
particular part of the Barents Sea," Ringdal said.

Capt. Brian Cullin, spokesman for Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, said he was unaware of the recent explosions in the Barents Sea. Cmdr. Greg Smith, a
spokesman for the Navy, was unfamiliar with the explosions and declined to comment on the seismic events.

"We don't comment on our monitoring operations," Smith said. A spokesman for the Office of the Secretary of Defense said he was unaware of any ongoing military
exercises in the Barents Sea and otherwise deferred questions to the Navy.

Much of the activity is occurring between 69 and 70 degrees latitude north and 35 and 40 degrees east longitude, close to the Kursk's resting place. Who might be
doing the exploding, what is being exploded, and the details behind the activity remain unclear.

While the exact cause of the seismic events remains mysterious, the existence of the seismic events is well documented by NORSAR. U.S. observers first noticed
the seismic events on Sept. 22, the same day Ringdal said NORSAR first observed them. A defense official said five of the seismic events registered a magnitude
between the initial blast and the main blast that sank the Kursk.

Further, Ringdal is confident the seismic events are small explosions, not natural earthquake phenomena.

"Everything points to this being small underwater explosions," he said. "I think the most striking reason is simply the pattern of these events, the sort of regularity and
time of day and intervals between them and they are all also about the same size which . . . is not typical of earthquakes." Beyond the seismic records, Ringdal said
he had no information about what is going on beneath the surface of the Barents or "why these explosions are being carried out."

NORSAR data -- adjusted to reflect the common Richter scale -- show three explosions occurred on Wednesday, Oct. 18: one with a magnitude of 2.03, followed
by another at 2.0 and another at 2.03. NORSAR records from Tuesday, Oct. 17 also list three explosions, registering at 2.15, 2.06 and 2.24. Events recorded on
Oct. 12 measured 2.16 and 2.08, and one event on Oct. 13 registered 2.22.

What caused the sinking of the Kursk and the death of its crew of 118 remains a mystery. The Clinton administration has adamantly denied any U.S. involvement in
the accident. However, Navy vessels have historically been active in the Barents. U.S. submarines and a T-AGOs surface ship were reported present in the area on
Aug. 12, gathering intelligence on the Russian naval exercise in which Kursk was participating.

Russian officials are considering three scenarios: an emergency inside the Kursk, a collision with another vessel and a collision with a World War II mine. Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov was quoted in published reports last week as saying none of the scenarios is predominant.

-- Christopher J. Castelli