US and Thai authorities launch DART "tsunameter" buoy system
Just one of 22 scheduled for deployment, buoy is attached to underwater sensor that measures changes in water pressure; funding provided by USAID, but Thai government will handle the maintenence; linked sensor systems seen as key for tsunami preparedness
Good buoy! Southeast Asia received much-needed help this week when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in a coordinated effort with the government of Thailand, launched the first Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART), buoy station in the Indian Ocean. The station — just one of twenty-tow “tsunameters” planned for the region, lies mid-way between Thailand and Sri Lanka, and will be maintained by the Thai Meteorological Department and National Disaster Warning Center. Funding was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The stations consist of a bottom pressure sensor that is anchored to the seafloor and a companion moored surface buoy. An acoustic link transmits data from the bottom pressure sensor to the surface buoy, and then satellite links relay the data to ground stations. A second buoy will be deployed in the spring of 2007 to a location further south, and both are part of an end-to-end warning system that includes tide gauges, communications upgrades, modeling, and dissemination systems for Indonesia, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and, as mentioned already, Thailand.
-read more in this Government Technology news release
