Tsunami Warnings Could Be Improved by GPS Tracking on Commercial Ships
10 May 2012Tsunamis can be deadly, and often without much warning. However, according to a new study published by researchers at the University of Hawaii – Manoa (UHM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, using real-time GPS tracking on commercial ships could be a cost-effective and better way to track tsunamis and warn of their danger.
Currently, tsunami detection consists of tide-gauges and seismic stations on land coupled with a buoy pressure sea-floor sensor system located deep in the ocean and land-based GPS tracker networks. There’s also the natural warning of an approaching tsunami: the ground near the coast may shake, water my withdraw far from the shoreline, or there may be an unusual ocean disturbance.
Unfortunately, even with all of these current methods to detect a looming tsunami, the devastating waves of a tsunami continues to wreak a deadly path.
But that’s where commercial ships may be able to help, according to the UHM scientists. On its way from Guam to Hawaii, the UHM research ship named “Kilo Moana” — equipped with an advanced GPS tracking system — detected the tsunami generated by the 8.8 Chiliean earthquake in Febrary 2010. This was the first time a maritime vessel detected a tsunami.
Based upon this knowledge, study author Dr. James Foster along with his colleagues are currently working on coordinating a network of commercial ships — all equipped with a geodetic GPS system — which could become the go-to technology for real-time tsunami warnings in the Pacific ocean.
“Our discovery indicates that the vast fleet of commercial ships traveling the ocean each day could become a network of accurate tsunami sensors,” Foster said.
Given the improving satellite communication technology and the affordability of GPS tracking system, it’s possible to cover a significant portion of today’s shipping fleet with real-time GPS tracking systems to create an effective, practical, and economical that provides more widespread and focused tsunami discovery coverage.
Foster and his colleagues believe that this type of ship-based GPS tracking technology could have detected the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami within 60 minutes, possibly saving many lives. A geodetic GPS tracking system installed on a network of commercial ships could “improve our detection and predictions of tsunamis — saving lives and money,” said Foster.
The study finders are published in the journal Geophyiscal Research Letters.
UHM researchers hope to launch a demo system using at least two vessels by the end of 2012.
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