Radar could detect tsunamis more accurately

Typography
A tsunami has been observed with radar for the first time, promising a cheap and more accurate early warning method, according to a study. Researchers have found that the devastating tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March could had been spotted up to 45 minutes before it reached tide gauges, using high-frequency radars installed along the shorelines in California and Japan.

A tsunami has been observed with radar for the first time, promising a cheap and more accurate early warning method, according to a study. Researchers have found that the devastating tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March could had been spotted up to 45 minutes before it reached tide gauges, using high-frequency radars installed along the shorelines in California and Japan.

!ADVERTISEMENT!

The warning time depended on how shallow the water was — the shallower the water, further away the method can detect a tsunami.

So the method would work best in regions with wide and shallow continental shelves such as South-East Asia and the west coast of India, where it could give the most warning time, according to John Largier, an oceanographer at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, and a co-author of the study published in Remote Sensing last month (3 August).

For further information: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/tsunami/news/radar-could-detect-tsunamis-more-accurately.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_news