After the tragic events surrounding the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the world once again turned their attention to the ocean tsunami. Scientists were once again directed to find ways to save people’s lives, through early detection systems and through further understanding.
The earthquake that triggered the tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people in eleven countries, originated from 30 kilometers beneath the surface of the Indian ocean, and registered a 9.3 on the moment magnitude scale.
Immediately after the devastating events of that day, the United Nations set up the Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS). The GITEWS project is supervised by the German National Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam, and has just completed testing of a new warning system.
A new seafloor pressure system has just finished testing off the coast of the Canary Islands, under the direction of scientists from the working group ‘Marine Observation Systems’ at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, part of the Helmholtz Association.
Though a tsunami might occur thousands of meters below sea level, and cause massive waves to crash in to land, those waves do not form to be that large until the very last moments. Until then, they are simply some tens of centimeters taller, and hard to detect.
The German tsunami warning system monitors a multitude of information, all transferred within moments of seismic disturbances. But to determine precisely what the size of a tsunami will be, bottom pressure sensors are required to determine the slight rise in sea level.
They are installed on the seabed, and will monitor any increase in water pressure above. So, for example, if a quake occurs and causes just a 20 centimeter rise in water – which will later, become a massive wall of water off a coastline – that 20 centimeters will cause an increase in water pressure on the sensor below.
Essentially, any additional water that is detected above will be transmitted back to scientists to determine what is happening.
The pressure-based acoustically coupled tsunami detector (PACT) will use a advanced communication system to send information from the seabed to a buoy on the surface, which will then transmit the data back to the warning center. Information will be taken every 15 seconds, analyzed, and if a tsunami event has been detected, the warning will be sent back to the center.
While the PACT system will be installed soon, it will undergo further tests in the Mediterranean, using the upcoming winter storms to determine how it plays in different conditions.
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
