Tsunami Detection System

In light of the events of the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, there has been an increasing concern about future tsunami threats, and with it, growing interest in tsunami detection and prevention systems. Part of our group’s task was to research existing tsunami detection systems, consider their effectiveness and feasibility and also to theorize new systems and ways of improving existing ones.
They have determined that the system that seems the most effective and the most feasible is a bottom pressure recorder(BPR)-buoy system. This system is the one currently being used in the coasts of Japan and the Pacific coast of the United States (the DART system), with slight variations. We have chosen to model our system after the DART system, of proven effectiveness and hardiness1. Considering the specifications of the system and what we need the system to detect, it was concluded that this was a fitting choice for modeling our sensor system for Indonesia and Peru.

In a DART-style mooring for the main buoy, the anchor is 6850 pounds15 meters of chain with the appropriate shackles connects the anchor to the main length of plaited nylon rope. The total length of the ropes and chains is 25 percent longer than the site depth to allow for error in sea depth and variations in the weather. (Gates 22). To ensure the best safety, an anchor-first deployment sequence should be used along the depth contour of the ocean floor where the buoy is to be moored (Gates 24).