Peter Folger
Specialist in Energy and Natural Resources Policy
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northeast coast near Honshu in the afternoon on Friday, March 11, 2011 (12:46 a.m. eastern time in the United States). The earthquake triggered a tsunami that has caused widespread devastation to parts of the coastal regions in Japan closest to the earthquake. The tsunami traveled across the Pacific Ocean, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tsunami warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska issued tsunami warnings for coastal areas of Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, Alaska, and California. Although the tsunami caused widespread damage along the northeast coast of Japan, tsunami warnings issued from the tsunami warning centers gave the above U.S. Pacific territories, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast adequate warning to prepare for incoming waves.
NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) manages the two tsunami warning centers that monitor, detect, and issue warnings for tsunamis generated in the Pacific Ocean. The NWS operates the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) at Ewa Beach, HI, and the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/AKTWC) at Palmer, AK. The National Tsunami Hazards Mitigation Program (NTHMP) assists states in emergency planning and in developing maps of potential coastal inundation for a tsunami of a given intensity. The goal of NTHMP is to ensure adequate advance warning of tsunamis along all the U.S. coastal areas and appropriate community response to a tsunami event.
The tsunami warning centers monitor and evaluate data from seismic networks and determine if a tsunami is likely based on the location, magnitude, and depth of an earthquake. If the center determines that a tsunami is likely, it transmits a warning message to NOAA’s weather forecasting offices and state emergency management centers, as well as to other recipients. The centers monitor coastal water-level data, typically with tide-level gages, and data from NOAA’s network of Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) detection buoys to confirm that a tsunami has been generated, and if not, to cancel any warnings. Shortly after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Congress passed the Tsunami Warning and Education Act (P.L. 109-424), to enhance and modernize the existing Pacific Tsunami Warning System to increase coverage, reduce false alarms, and increase the accuracy of forecasts and warnings, among other purposes. As a result, the array was expanded to a total of 39 DART buoys in March 2008.
Funding for the NOAA tsunami program supports three main categories of activities: (1) warning, such as the activities of the tsunami warning centers and DART network; (2) mitigation, such as the activities of NTHMP; and (3) research, including activities conducted by the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the National Buoy Data Center. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that total funding for all these activities ranged from $5 million to $10 million annually between FY1997 and FY2004, but increased after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami from approximately $27 million in FY2005 to $42 million in FY2009. Funding in FY2010 was $41 million.
Currently, 7 of the 39 DART buoys are not operational. Of the 7 buoys that are not working, 5 are deployed in the Pacific Ocean. If more DART buoys fail, and regional forecasting capabilities are impaired, then the NOAA Administrator must notify Congress within 30 days. According to NOAA, the current continuing resolution (P.L. 112-4) does not allow the NWS to allocate FY2011 funding to purchase ship time required to repair the 7 DART buoys that are not working.
Date of Report: March 18, 2011
Number of Pages: 11
Order Number: R41686
Price: $29.95
Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports
Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.
Specialist in Energy and Natural Resources Policy
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northeast coast near Honshu in the afternoon on Friday, March 11, 2011 (12:46 a.m. eastern time in the United States). The earthquake triggered a tsunami that has caused widespread devastation to parts of the coastal regions in Japan closest to the earthquake. The tsunami traveled across the Pacific Ocean, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tsunami warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska issued tsunami warnings for coastal areas of Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, Alaska, and California. Although the tsunami caused widespread damage along the northeast coast of Japan, tsunami warnings issued from the tsunami warning centers gave the above U.S. Pacific territories, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast adequate warning to prepare for incoming waves.
NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) manages the two tsunami warning centers that monitor, detect, and issue warnings for tsunamis generated in the Pacific Ocean. The NWS operates the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) at Ewa Beach, HI, and the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/AKTWC) at Palmer, AK. The National Tsunami Hazards Mitigation Program (NTHMP) assists states in emergency planning and in developing maps of potential coastal inundation for a tsunami of a given intensity. The goal of NTHMP is to ensure adequate advance warning of tsunamis along all the U.S. coastal areas and appropriate community response to a tsunami event.
The tsunami warning centers monitor and evaluate data from seismic networks and determine if a tsunami is likely based on the location, magnitude, and depth of an earthquake. If the center determines that a tsunami is likely, it transmits a warning message to NOAA’s weather forecasting offices and state emergency management centers, as well as to other recipients. The centers monitor coastal water-level data, typically with tide-level gages, and data from NOAA’s network of Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) detection buoys to confirm that a tsunami has been generated, and if not, to cancel any warnings. Shortly after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Congress passed the Tsunami Warning and Education Act (P.L. 109-424), to enhance and modernize the existing Pacific Tsunami Warning System to increase coverage, reduce false alarms, and increase the accuracy of forecasts and warnings, among other purposes. As a result, the array was expanded to a total of 39 DART buoys in March 2008.
Funding for the NOAA tsunami program supports three main categories of activities: (1) warning, such as the activities of the tsunami warning centers and DART network; (2) mitigation, such as the activities of NTHMP; and (3) research, including activities conducted by the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the National Buoy Data Center. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that total funding for all these activities ranged from $5 million to $10 million annually between FY1997 and FY2004, but increased after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami from approximately $27 million in FY2005 to $42 million in FY2009. Funding in FY2010 was $41 million.
Currently, 7 of the 39 DART buoys are not operational. Of the 7 buoys that are not working, 5 are deployed in the Pacific Ocean. If more DART buoys fail, and regional forecasting capabilities are impaired, then the NOAA Administrator must notify Congress within 30 days. According to NOAA, the current continuing resolution (P.L. 112-4) does not allow the NWS to allocate FY2011 funding to purchase ship time required to repair the 7 DART buoys that are not working.
Date of Report: March 18, 2011
Number of Pages: 11
Order Number: R41686
Price: $29.95
Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports
Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.
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