Observing Natural Hazards: Tsunami, Hurricane, and El Niño Observations from the NDBC Ocean Observing System of Systems
Abstract
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) operates and maintains the NDBC Ocean Observing Systems of Systems (NOOSS), comprised of 3 networks that provide critical information before and during and after extreme hazards events, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and El Niños. While each system has its own mission, they have in common the requirement to remain on station in remote areas of the ocean to provide reliable and accurate observations. After the 2004 Sumatran Tsunami, NOAA expanded its network of tsunameters from six in the Pacific Ocean to a vast network of 39 stations providing information to Tsunami Warning Centers to enable faster and more accurate tsunami warnings for coastal communities in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. The tsunameter measurements are used to detect the amplitude and period of the tsunamis, and the data can be assimilated into models for the prediction and impact of the tsunamis to coastal communities. The network has been used for the detection of tsunamis generated by earthquakes, including the 2006 and 2007 Kuril Islands, 2007 Peru, and Solomon Islands, and most recently for the 2009 Dusky Sound, New Zealand earthquake. In August 2009, the NOAA adjusted its 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Seasonal Outlooks from above normal to near or below normal activity, primarily due to a strengthening El Niño. A key component in the detection of that El Niño was the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Array (TAO) operated by NDBC. TAO provides real-time data for improved detection, understanding, and prediction of El Niño and La Niña. The 55-buoy TAO array spans the central and eastern equatorial Pacific providing real-time and post-deployment recovery data to support climate analysis and forecasts. Although, in this case, the El Niño benefits the tropical Atlantic, the alternate manifestation, La Niña typically enhances hurricane activity in the Atlantic. The various phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation resulting in extreme hazards, such as floods and landslides, droughts and wildfires, fish kills and biological impacts. For almost 40 years, NDBC has operated and maintained a network of buoys and coastal automated stations for meteorological and oceanographic observations that support real-time weather analysis, forecasting, and warnings. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) uses the observations from the buoys to detect the position and intensity of tropical cyclones and the extent of their extreme winds and sea. Since 2006, NHC has cited over 100 instances of using buoy data in its Forecast Discussions or Public Advisories. Data are also used in reconstructing and analyzing the extent of devastation from land-falling hurricanes. The unprecedented devastation caused by the rising waters of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina was attributed to the waves generated and reported by the NDBC buoys in the Gulf of Mexico superimposed upon the storm surge at landfall. The three constituent systems of the NOOSS comprise a network of more than 250 observing stations providing real-time and archived data for forecasters, scientists, and disaster management officials.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFMNH43A1293O
- Keywords:
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- 1610 GLOBAL CHANGE / Atmosphere;
- 3374 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES / Tropical meteorology;
- 4522 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL / ENSO;
- 4564 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL / Tsunamis and storm surges