The upgraded tide gauges also collect one minute averaged tide data that are available to the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. This enhances the tsunami detection and confirmation capability of the centers, allowing forecasters to view real-time data of any station in the network.
"Tsunami detection and confirmation can be vital in preventing the loss of human life," said John H. Dunnigan, assistant administrator of the NOAA Ocean Service. "Efficient data collection is an essential tool to coastal managers for rapid forecasting and the issuance of critical warnings that can help save lives of people in the tsunami's path."
Using special data collection platforms, water level observations from these tide gauges allow NOAA tidal stations to become an integral part of the Pacific tsunami detection and warning network. Tidal data, matched with data from the NOAA Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis, or DART, network of buoys, will allow the NOAA National Weather Service tsunami warning centers to confirm a tsunami and forecast the magnitude, direction and speed of a tsunami wave more accurately.
"We have upgraded equipment at the 33 water level stations and have added 15 new stations in Alaska, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and on the West Coast," said Mike Szabados, director of the NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. "Near the end of 2007, NOAA will incorporate all tide gauges on the West, East and Gulf coasts to create an unprecedented array of more than 150 stations."
As part of the Ocean Action Plan, NOAA is upgrading all of its National Water Level Observation Network stations to provide real-time data recording and transmission capability, enabling all coastal gauges to detect and transmit tsunami data in real time so that warnings can be issued in a timely manner. The DART program deployed tsunami detection buoys in the Indian Ocean on December 1.
Photos Courtesy of NOAA
