U.S. warning system detected the Sumatra Tsunami

Abstract

Although the December 2004 great Sumatra earthquake and the resulting tsunami were very distant from the northeast Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Deep‐ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) array in the northeast Pacific successfully demonstrated high sensitivity and provides useful data for understanding the propagation of the tsunami.At the time of the tsunami, the Pacific DART network already was one of the most sophisticated tsunami detection systems in operation.The network, which then consisted of eight stations (seven U.S. and one Chilean), now consists of 11 stations (10 U.S. and one Chilean) [González et al., 2005] (Figure l). Each station is equipped with a bottom pressure recorder (BPR) transmitting data acoustically from the ocean bottom to a surface buoy, which then passes the data to tsunami warning centers and other land stations by satellite communication links.