Cool Technology of the Week

As we've all watched the news about the Japanese earthquake, we've heard a great deal about tsunamis and their impact to the Japanese coast and the West Coast of the United States.

What technology is used to detect and track tsunamis?   The tsunami warning network.

The system is a string of Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) devices, ocean-floor sensors that can detect changes in pressure when a tsunami rolls over and are designed to transmit a signal to a buoy on the surface, which in turn sends a signal to a satellite, which then relays it to a Tsunami Warning Center.

Martha Grabowski, PhD, is Vice-Chair of the Committee on Review of the Tsunami Warning and Forecast System at the National. Academies which recently issued a report that assesses the American preparedness effort.

Here is a link to Martha's recent interview about the tsunami caused by the Japanese earthquake.

39 sensors that monitor tsunamis in the Pacific so that every coastal resident can get an early warning and seek high ground.   That's cool!