Tsunami Essay

Sophie Moynihan

February 23, 2011

Science Essay

Predicting deadly tsunamis

Predicting Deadly Tsunamis

On December 26, 2004, a 9.3 earthquake occurred about 90 feet (30 km) under the surface level of the Indian Ocean and was felt as far away as Alaska. The quake lasted for about 8-10 minutes, the longest quake ever recorded, and the caused a series of mega tsunamis. Tsunamis are a kind of mega wave. They are usually the after occurrence of earthquakes in the Ocean. Tsunamis are caused when a great amount of water is pushed out off a fault. The water forms a wave and collects speed so when it finally hits the shore it can cause severe damage. These Tsunamis hit the coasts of Indonesia, Shri Lanka, Thailand, and most of the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. It killed around 230,000 people and left millions more homeless of missing. The wave are said to have been as high as 100 feet (30.3 m) and the quake that caused it was so strong, it shook the earth about .4 inches (1 cm). Although the earthquake was large, it was the Tsunami that took most of the lives. It completely destroyed coastal cities and caused about $7 billion U.S. dollars worth of damage. After the quake, scientists knew that they had to find better and more accurate ways of tracing tsunamis, and warning people about the oncoming danger. Scientists all over the world are constantly on guard waiting for a tsunami to strike. They have hypothesized and build many contraptions, such as buoys, satellites, and onshore sea-level gauges to help them detect on coming waves.

The BPR Buoy system

The Buoy-Bottom Pressure Recorder system, or the BPR system, is probably the most commonly used system of tracking tsunamis. It consists of a buoy, which is like a float toy you would sit on in a pool that is anchored down on the bottom of the ocean floor. The Buoy has two modes, “standard” and “event”. The buoy usually stays on standard mode, where it sits and waits for something to happen on the ocean floor. It sends an update every 15 minutes, so it is easy for scientists to watch what is happening nearly 6,000 meters under the sea. If the buoy detects a pressure change or sign of a seismic wave, it will switch into event mode. During event mode, it will send reports every minute and will stay this way until about 4 hours after the occurrence. Although this system is almost 100 percent accurate, it has some drawbacks. It has to be places far enough away from possible epicenters so that actions from tsunamis aren’t confused with actions from an earthquake. But at the same time, they need to be placed close enough to the epicenter so that they can detect tsunamis in time for everyone to prepare. They also have to be places about 3000 meters under the sea so that the signals aren’t confused with other disturbances. So although the buoys are usually what we turn to in means of detecting tsunamis, they have many drawbacks. Luckily, there are several other, although less effective, ways of tracking tsunamis.

Satellite detection systems

A satellite detection system uses, obviously, a satellite to detect the oncoming seismic waves. During the 2004 tsunami, it was satellites that first detected the oncoming wave. Although, the satellites couldn’t detect the speed, o it didn’t know how long people would have to prepare and when it did detect it took around 5 hours to send the signal. The satellite used in 2004 weren’t highly effective and it was a miracle that it was even detected at all. Now, we are currently working on ways to improve the satellite system. The more recent system we have developed is called the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Although we have scientists all over the world working on the satellites, the GEOSS hasn’t been perfected yet. What we are hoping for the future is the GEOSS will pick up on meteorological and climate change. It will detect them quickly and send out the signal in hopefully enough time to warn people about the oncoming danger. Once perfected , it will also compliment the BPR buoy system.

Seismograph

One of the first ways of detecting tsunamis, and a way that is still sometimes used today, it the seismograph. A seismograph is a contraption used to measure seismic activity. Although it is typically be used to track and measure earthquakes, it can be useful when watching tsunamis. A seismograph is really simply just a pencil hovering over a piece of paper that is held down by a string. When there are seismic waves occurring, it causes the weight and paper to move, and then the pencil keeps track of how large, fast, and destructive the waves can be. Although seismographs are simple and easy to use, they are not the most practical when it comes to tsunamis. Seismographs are used for recording the components of waves, rather than predicting when they will strike. So even if one did pick up on a wave in advance, it wouldn’t be in enough time to prepare.

True effects of tsunamis

Aside from some of the obvious damages tsunamis can do, there are many ways that tsunamis destroy communities in many levels. One of the more obvious ones is the economic part of the community. Tsunamis cause serious damage to buildings and can cause an average of about 200,000,000 dollars worth of damage. This is money that could be used to build homeless shelters, buy books for schools and libraries, and help out struggling families. Once the damage is done, it can also affect the political part of our community. Everyone will have their entitled opinion on how the money should be spent. Some may argue that it should go into re- building the houses that were destroyed and getting families back on their feet, and others may say it should be used to fix he environment that was destroyed. Another this tsunamis can really damage is the b=natural beauty of a country. Flora and Fauna is no match for mega waves, so after one hits the number of deer or protected trees may have dropped dramatically. The last things a tsunami may affect are the moral and social parts of a community. During panic, people tend to lose themselves. Tsunamis can change the way people perceive each other and the trust they have in the people around them.

How Boxing Day changed us

After the boxing day tsunami, scientists knew that they had to create stronger technology in order to keep it from happening again. The Boxing Day tsunami was what kicked of meteorological studies into the next centuries. We now have people all over the world coming up with ways to improve our current means of record keeping. After the boxing day tsunami, not only did we know we had to find a better way to track tsunamis, but we also knew that we had to help the people that were stuck in that horrible disaster. Countries made generous donation to the countries that had been hit in order to help them re- group. The boxing day tsunamis was a very dark day in history, but it was also what opened our eyes to many other forms of technology.