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Photos: How NOAA works out tsunami warnings

Oct 5, 2009

NOAA operates two Tsunami Warning Centers in the Pacific Ocean. We have a look at how it tsunami warnings are issued to keep the sea shores safe.

At 10.48am PDT on Tuesday, an earthquake with a magnitude 8.0 occurred in the Samoa Islands region. Shortly after, an intricate system of buoys, satellites, and computer networks helped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) get out the word of potential tsunami danger to coastal communities all around the Pacific.

This tsunami propagation map from NOAA shows the height in centimeters of the wave resulting from the quake as it spread across the Pacific Ocean.

Photo credit: NOAA
Caption credit: James Martin/CNET