As I wrote about a couple of months ago, NOAA has created an automated tsunami warning system. Last night about 8:45 PST, I got a series of emails about a tsunami warning that went into effect because of a magnitude 8.2 earthquake east of the Kiril Islands east of Russia and north of Japan. Here’s an exercept from the warning:

NWS WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER PALMER AK
833 PM PST FRI JAN 12 2007

…A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT WHICH INCLUDES THE ALASKA
COASTAL AREAS FROM NIKOLSKI ALASKA TO ATTU ALASKA…

…A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ALASKA COASTAL
AREAS FROM SEWARD ALASKA TO NIKOLSKI ALASKA…

…AT THIS TIME THIS MESSAGE IS ADVISORY ONLY FOR OTHER
AREAS OF CALIFORNIA – OREGON – WASHINGTON – BRITISH
COLUMBIA – AND ALASKA…

A TSUNAMI WARNING MEANS… ALL COASTAL RESIDENTS IN THE WARNING
AREA WHO ARE NEAR THE BEACH OR IN LOW-LYING REGIONS SHOULD MOVE
IMMEDIATELY INLAND TO HIGHER GROUND AND AWAY FROM ALL HARBORS AND
INLETS INCLUDING THOSE SHELTERED DIRECTLY FROM THE SEA. THOSE
FEELING THE EARTH SHAKE… SEEING UNUSUAL WAVE ACTION… OR THE
WATER LEVEL RISING OR RECEDING MAY HAVE ONLY A FEW MINUTES BEFORE
THE TSUNAMI ARRIVAL AND SHOULD EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. HOMES AND
SMALL BUILDINGS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND TSUNAMI IMPACTS.
DO NOT STAY IN THESE STRUCTURES.

This was followed by several more messages each with more specific information. It was pretty cool really to see all of this unfold and before it was something I would have been blissfully unaware of until reading a news post about it the following day.

The final message gave alot of very specific information about the event, observed wave heights, travel time, earthquake locale, etc. It’s posted below:

…KURIL ISLAND EVENT OBSERVED TSUNAMI HEIGHTS…

THIS BULLETIN IS BEING ISSUED TO PROVIDE SEA LEVEL OBSERVATIONS
PRODUCED BY THE JANUARY 13 0423Z KURIL ISLAND TSUNAMI.

NO – REPEAT NO – WATCH OR WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR ALASKA –
BRITISH COLUMBIA – WASHINGTON – OREGON OR CALIFORNIA.

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN OBSERVED AT THE FOLLOWING SITES
HANASAKI JAPAN 0.1M/0.3FT
SHEMYA ALASKA 0.32M/1.0FT
ADAK ALASKA 0.04M/0.1FT
DUTCH HARBOR ALASKA 0.06M/0.2FT
MIDWAY I. 0.18M/0.6FT
HILO HAWAII 0.12M/0.4FT
KAHULUI HAWAII 0.17M/0.6FT
NAWILIWILI HAWAII 0.09M/0.3FT
WAKE I. 0.09M/0.3FT
WAVE OBSERVATIONS ARE THE AMPLITUDE ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

EVALUATION
BASED ON THE LOCATION – MAGNITUDE – TSUNAMI MODELS AND OBSERVED
TSUNAMI HEIGHTS THE EARTHQUAKE WAS NOT SUFFICIENT TO GENERATE A
TSUNAMI WHICH WILL INUNDATE COASTAL REGIONS IN CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/
WASHINGTON/ BRITISH COLUMBIA OR ALASKA. HOWEVER A
TSUNAMI CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DANGEROUS CURRENTS AND SURGES IN
HARBORS AND BAYS MAY BE OBSERVED IN SOME AREAS OF THE COAST.
WAVE HEIGHTS AND CURRENTS ARE AMPLITFIED BY IRREGULAR
SHORELINE AND ARE DIFFICULT TO PREDICT. THE INITIAL
WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST AND THE THREAT MAY CONTINUE FOR
SEVERAL HOURS.

WHEN NO SIGNIFICANT WAVES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS AFTER
THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT OCCURRED
FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME THE THREAT IS
PASSED.

PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
MAGNITUDE – 8.2
TIME – 1924 AKST JAN 12 2007
2024 PST JAN 12 2007
0424 UTC JAN 13 2007
LOCATION – 46.7 NORTH 154.4 EAST
– EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS
DEPTH – 14 MILES/23 KM

SELECTED TSUNAMI ARRIVAL TIMES FOR INFORMATION AND REFERENCE ONLY.
THESE TIMES DO NOT INDICATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI IS EXPECTED.
NEAH BAY-WA 0433 PST JAN 13 TOFINO-BC 0321 AKST JAN 13
CRESCENT CITY-CA 0445 PST JAN 13
SAN FRANCISCO-CA 0531 PST JAN 13
LA JOLLA-CA 0604 PST JAN 13

THIS WILL BE THE FINAL WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER
MESSAGE ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT. REFER TO THE INTERNET
SITE WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV FOR ADDITIONAL OBSERVED WAVE HEIGHTS AND
ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIMES.

All in all, a very useful system that I’m really happy to see work and work well. Thankfully, this time there was no tangible destruction resulting, but it was very reassuring to know about the event and it’s potential impacts as well as actual impacts. Good job NOAA team!


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