Tsunami Warning and Early Response System

Harris Maritime Communication Services, a provider of worldwide maritime satellite communication services, has teamed with CSnet International, an offshore communications network company, to develop a Tsunami Warning and Early Response System for the Oceanography Centre of Cyprus. Called the Tsunami Warning and Early Response system for Cyprus (TWERC), the system will be used to warn citizens of Cyprus of incoming Tsunami’s waves.

The warning system, a mesh of seismometers and very sensitive pressure sensors on the ocean floor, will relay ground movement information to a Harris OceanNet buoy off the coast of Cyprus. That buoy is part of Harris’ Offshore Communications Backbone (OCB), a network that has been designed to monitor deep ocean activity in the Mediterranean. According to Rick Simonian, president of Harris Maritime Communications Services, “Harris developed and has successfully operated an OceanNet buoy in the eastern Mediterranean to provide oceanographic data for this region since 2004. Adding tsunami warning sensors to the more comprehensive OCB system is a natural extension of this unique service offering.”

OceantNet is a worldwide system of buoy networks that have been strategically placed to meet the needs of governments, industries, and the science community. The satellite terminal equipped buoys serve as communication liaisons between satellite networks and sub-sea junction boxes. These sea junction boxes transmit data from massive sensor, communication and power networks on the sea floor via fiber optic riser infrastructures to the central OceanNet buoy. In turn, this information is relayed to satellites and then custom-packaged for display on laptops and desktops throughout the world’s government, research and corporate networks.

Harris has a long-standing agreement with CSnet for the development of modular seafloor communications networks that operate at sea depths of 10,000 feet. The modular system design allows for the functionality of a network to be changed as new technology becomes available and expanded on as new system requirements are defined. The buoy network modules have also been designed to allow for quick redeployment in different ocean regions that are deemed strategically time-critical.

The Mediterranean Sea is considered vulnerable to tsunamis not only because the area is seismically active, but also because coastal ports are very close to high-risk tsunami epicenters. An earthquake in the Mediterranean could trigger a tsunami that could reach Cyprus within an hour, giving very little time to evacuate and shut down industrial buildings such as power plants and chemical factories. According to Dr. Georgious Georgiou, director of the Oceanography Centre of Cyprus and TWERC project leader. “The system will include not only the offshore technology, but also capacity building on shore, including public education and outreach. Detecting the wave is only part of the solution. Transmitting that warning quickly to a population that knows what to do when they receive it is equally critical.”

Noting that the system will not only act as a tsunami warning system for Cyprus, but also as a warning system for nearby regions was Dr. Andrew Clark, president and chief executive officer of CSnet. “This system will not only serve to protect citizens and visitors of Cyprus, but also all those along the entire, densely populated eastern Mediterranean coast, which is a very seismically active region,”