Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre
Tsunami Early Warning Centre is a part of Indian Nation Centre For Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). INCOIS has a data warehouse of ocean related information gathered from various institutions in India. These institutions are involved in Marine Data Collection, Ocean Observation and Ocean/Atmospheric sciences.
INCOIS translates data into deliverable products to a range of users such as:
- Fishing community
- State Fishery Department Officers
- Planning Commission
- Ports and Harbours
- Shipping Industry, Navy, Coast Guards, NHO Central Pollution Control Board
- MHR – Ministry of HR etc
The Indian Tsunami Early Warning System incorporates the needs of storm surge forecast too. The System design is based on end-to-end principle encompassing:
- 24X7 Dedicated Tsunami Warning Centre
- Near-real time determination of earthquake
- Comprehensive real time Ocean observational network
- Radar-based Coastal Monitoring Stations
- Developing numerical models for Tsunami and Storm Surges
- Generating Coastal inundation and Vulnerability maps
- Capacity building, training, education of all stakeholders
- International connectivity.
Indian Initiative for the Dual-use Early Warning System covers the two known Tsunamigenic zones that affect Indian Ocean region. It is an end-to-end system that is scientifically and technically sound. It is comprehensive and covers the required observations, modelling, data communication, warning centre, capacity building.
How it works?
For issuing a warning, the system uses the data it receives from seismic stations, sea level gauges, bottom pressure recorders (tsunami buoys) and the numerical models to predict the water level changes expected at various locations along the Indian coast. So far this system has worked well.
Rangachang
In order to forecast Tsunami early, the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has installed the Early Tsunami Warning System (ETWS) at Rangachang in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The system can forecast a tsunami within 3 minutes after the initial tremors are felt and can send alerts.
Following the alerts sent from the Tsunami Warning System, the tsunami alerts can be issued to the risk zones via Centre in consultation with Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, INCOIS at Hyderabad.
INCOIS has 22 sea-level gauges at Aerial Bay, Chennai, Ennore, Garden Reach, Haldia, Kandla, Karwar, Krishnapatnam, Marmagao, Machilipatnam, Nagapattinam, Paradeep, Port Blair, Vadinar, Visakhapatnam, among others, and three bottom pressure recorders. Such recorders get triggered to tsunami mode due to the arrival of seismic waves. In addition to the Indian systems, INCOIS also accessed the data in real-time, near real-time from similar observing systems maintained by other countries in the Indian and Pacific Ocean to follow the progress of the tsunami wave.
