Progress with tsunami detection buoys


Posted on December 3, 2006  /  2 Comments

One hour warning possible for tsunamis originating from the Sunda Trench.   What we do with that one hour is the key question.

People’s Daily Online — Nations progess on tsunami detection

Thailand launched the first of 22 US-made tsunami-detection buoys to be positioned around the Indian Ocean as part of a regional warning system against giant waves caused by earthquakes under the sea.

The satellite-linked deep-sea buoy, unveiled at a ceremony on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket, will float 1,000 kilometres offshore, roughly midway between Thailand and Sri Lanka.

“This will give us the capability to provide 1 hour warning to most of the countries in the northern part of the basin,” Curtis Barret of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Washington donated the buoy, but Thailand will be responsible for its upkeep.

Under a similar arrangement, a second buoy will be installed in April 2007 off Sumatra in Indonesia, which bore the brunt of the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.

2 Comments


  1. A link to NOAA news on same event with additional links to DART.

    http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag216.htm