Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center ( PTWC ) is a tsunami early warning system, which is responsible for the international tsunami prediction and warning the population in the area of the Pacific.

History

The PTWC was established as a result of the earthquake on the Aleutian Islands in 1946, which triggered a severe tsunami. This called for 165 human lives in Hawaii and Alaska. Then, the PTWC was established in Ewa Beach, Hawaii in 1949.

The PTWC is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA).

Operation

About a distributed network of seismometers occurring earthquakes are registered and the strength (see Richter scale ) and determines the position of the quake. When the quake after the evaluation turns out to be earthquake is determined using measurements of wave movements, changes in sea level and changes in pressure if the quake triggered a tsunami (see web link to DART). If after the evaluation of the measured data, the possibility of resulting tsunamis result, a warning is issued for the vulnerable areas.