Detecting Tsunami In The High Seas: How GPS Might Contribute To An Early Warning System

Oscar L. Colombo

Abstract:	Differential kinematic GPS with carrier phase data has been used successfully to position buoys at the sub-decimeter level in order to observe waves, tides, etc., mostly when the buoys are close enough to a coastal base station to resolve the carrier phase integer ambiguities. With differential long-range methods proposed and tested in recent years, it should be possible to position just as accurately buoys, ships, and other surface craft in the high seas, at distances of thousands of kilometers from shore. The potential of one such long- range technique for the detection of possibly life-threatening tsunami (> 10 cm in height in the deep ocean), to give early warning to those at risk, is illustrated here with real-data results from a test conducted in Duck, North Carolina, in October of 1999.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2000 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 26 - 28, 2000 Pacific Hotel Disneyland Anaheim, CA
Pages:	358 - 363
Cite this article:	Colombo, Oscar L., "Detecting Tsunami In The High Seas: How GPS Might Contribute To An Early Warning System," Proceedings of the 2000 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Anaheim, CA, January 2000, pp. 358-363.
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