Scientist Look to Commercial Fleet to Provide Tsunami Warnings

Tsunami early warning systems currently relay on land-based networks that require water-based systems of deep ocean sensors and tide gauges to reveal how large a tsunami is as well as its direction of travel. The systems are costly and their distribution is spotty. Ships using geodetic GPS systems can detect tsunamis in the open ocean even though they are thousands of miles away.  Researchers are now looking at how commercial ships that are equipped with GPS tools, could provide a network in order to improve tsunami early detection warnings. This would provide a network of accurate tsunami sensors around the world. Providing and equipping commercial vessels with GPS technology that could measure small tsunami waves would be relatively inexpensive and would improve predictions allowing earlier response and evacuation of inflicted areas. Research is currently being carried out by scientists at UH Manoa. A UH research vessel en-route to Hawaii from Guam during a research expedition in 2010 was equipped with a GPS system that recorded data of the tsunami caused by the 8.8 earthquake in Chili. Because a ship has GPS systems more advanced than hand held it can measure and transmit small changes is wave height that is measured in length of time. Tsunami swells take far longer to pass than an average open ocean swell. The GPS systems can cost up to $20,000, but are far less expensive than the current deep ocean buoys that currently provide tsunami data. Researchers are looking to the commercial fleet to bring these systems on board to provide a mobile tsunami detection system.