Acehtsunami

University scientists using Global Positioning System (GPS) software developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have shown that GPS can determine, within minutes, whether an earthquake is big enough to generate an ocean-wide tsunami. This NASA-funded technology can be used to provide faster tsunami warnings.

A team led by Dr. Geoffrey Blewitt of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology and Seismological Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, demonstrated that a large quake’s true size can be determined within 15 minutes using GPS data. This is much faster than is possible with current methods.

“Tsunami warning is a race against time,” said co-author Dr. Seth Stein, Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. “Tsunamis travel at jet speed, so warning centers must accurately decide, within minutes, whether to issue alerts. This has to be done fast enough for the warning to be distributed to authorities in impacted areas so they can implement response plans. Together with seismometer and ocean buoy data, GPS adds another tool that can improve future tsunami danger assessments.”