Full-fledged tsunami warning system to become operational by next month

The much talked about Rs.125-crore full-fledged Indian tsunami warning system, with a mechanism to forecast within an hour of a major undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean, is all set to become operational by next month.An interim warning system is functioning at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) here for more than a year and the final stage of integrating the software is underway to make the full-fledged Early Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges operational by next month. INCOIS director Shailesh Nayak told The Hindu here on Monday that once it started functioning, the centre would receive all data in real time from in-situ observational platforms (bottom pressure recorders) in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

 

Five such recorders had already been installed in the Bay of Bengal and two more would be deployed in the Arabian Sea later this month.The bottom pressure recorders would measure even a 3 cm change in the sea level. In the event of an impending tsunami, the changes in the sea level would be more than 3 cms, he said. The height of the waves at different places would indicate what kind of inundation can be expected

In the event of an earthquake, the first bulletin would be issued within half an hour stating whether "it is tsunamigenic or not." In the case of the former, the next warning would be given in another 30 minutes predicting the coastal region likely to be hit by a tsunami. Dr. Nayak said that apart from INCOIS, many agencies including the Indian Meteorological Department, which gets data from a network of seismic stations, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Survey of India, Indian Space Research Organization and the Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management, were involved in the project.

 

(The Hindu, 4^th September 2007)