Novel tsunami detection network uses global navigation systems on
commercial ships
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AGU Poster Presentation Number: NH23C-1910 (AGU abstract)
Session Date and Time: Tuesday, 15 December 2015; 13:40 - 18:00
Session Number and Title: NH23C: Tsunami Hazard Response and Mitigation II Posters
Location: Moscone South; Poster Hall
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Accurate and rapid detection and assessment of tsunamis in the open ocean is critical for
predicting how they will impact distant coastlines, enabling appropriate mitigation efforts.
Scientists from the University of Hawai‘i – Mānoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science
and Technology (SOEST) are using commercial ships operating in the North Pacific to construct
a network of low-cost tsunami sensors to augment existing detection systems.
The researchers, funded by NOAA, are partnering with Matson, Maersk Line, and the World
Ocean Council to equip 10 ships with real-time geodetic GPS systems and satellite
communications. The newly built pilot network of GPS-equipped ships enables each vessel to act
as an open-ocean tide gauge. Data from these new tsunami sensors are streamed, via satellite, to
a land-based data center where they are processed and analyzed for tsunami signals.
“The unexpectedly huge 2011 Tohoku, Japan earthquake and the unanticipated type of fault slip
which caused the 2012 event at Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada highlighted weaknesses in our
understanding of earthquake and tsunami hazards, and emphasized the need for more denselyspaced observing capabilities,” said James Foster, SOEST associate researcher and lead
investigator for the project.
Despite the advances in tsunami monitoring and modeling technology over the last decade, there
are too few observations of tsunamis to provide sufficiently accurate predictions required for
hazard response agencies to be able to make the best possible response to tsunami events. In
particular, there are very few sensors in the deep ocean between the tsunami source and the
distant coastlines that might be threatened. The sensors that do exist are expensive to build and
maintain, so only a limited number are deployed. Gaps in the coverage of the network, as well as
routine outages of instruments, limit the ability of the current detection system to accurately
assess the hazard posed by each event.
“Our approach offers a new, cost-effective way of acquiring many more observations to augment
the current detection networks,” said co-investigator Todd Ericksen, SOEST assistant specialist.
By chance, in 2010, UHM researchers discovered that the ship-based global navigation satellite
systems aboard the UH research vessel Kilo Moana were able to detect and measure the
properties of tsunamis in the open ocean, thus paving the way for the current project. Foster and
colleagues were running an experiment using geodetic GPS on the R/V Kilo Moana when the
tsunami generated by the magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Maule, Chile (27 Feb 2010) passed the
ship. Analysis of the data proved that the system accurately recorded the tsunami signal.
The upcoming AGU presentation will describe this novel network for the detection and
characterization of tsunami in the open ocean and present a preliminary analysis of the data,
assessing the robustness of the system, the quality of the time-series and the accuracy of its
estimates of sea surface height variations.
The researchers are working with the NOAA Tsunami Warning Centers to ensure that the
network provides the most useful data products to help them with their predictions. They will be
working with their industry collaborators to develop a new version of the shipboard package that
can be deployed on a much greater number of ships.
“Our new ship-based detection network is the first step towards the creation of the dense global
observing network needed to support the efforts of tsunami warning centers to provide the best
possible predictions of tsunami hazard to coastal communities,” said Foster.
Presenter Contact Information:
Dr. James Foster, Associate Researcher
University of Hawai‘i – Mānoa, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
jfoster@soest.hawaii.edu
808-221-7843 (cell)
Links to Partner Organizations
 Maersk Line
Your promise. Delivered.
 Matson
From Shanghai to Savannah, Matson moves the world.
 World Ocean Council
The WOC is the international, cross-sectoral alliance for private sector
leadership and collaboration in “Corporate Ocean Responsibility”