...
The WARN module within Oceans 2.0 provides subscribers with early notifications of tsunamis and earthquakes as part of the Ocean Networks Canada's () Smart Oceans BC initiative. It utilizes existing the Oceans 2.0 data acquisition infrastructure while incorporating some new instruments and new event detection algorithms and software. Tsunami detection uses data from pressure sensors such as the existing Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) for far-field tsunamis and some a planned coastal radar devicessystem for near-field events. Earthquake detection uses new sensors providing p-wave data , that that were deployed in late 2014 but will be upgraded in early 2015 with more sensitive instruments. While WARN was implemented as a research/prototype with limited sensors and select early adopters for now, it is being designed to be expandable to greater numbers and types of instruments (such as coastal radar for tsunami detection) and subscribers.
WARN receives instrument data, and returns intrinsic event data such as tsunami detection time and wave height, and earthquake magnitude and epicenter, which can be used in impact assessments by subscribers. Subscribers can subscribe to be notified by any of the following means:
- e-mail (generally only useful for test purposes)
- direct server notification
- Apple push notification using our prototype iPhone application (probably will not be made available to the public yet).
At this time, in order to subscribe, users must create an account on the Ocean Networks Canada "Oceans 2.0" website. They also require permission from Ocean Networks Canada in order to subscribe, because this project is still under development and we wish to limit access to ONC staff only at this time. Even when the project is complete, the subscriptions will be carefully controlled for liability reasons.
Further details are available in the attached presentation:
...
Earthquake detection is done using a number of accelerometers located on land and on the seafloor west of offshore Vancouver Island. Normally they Accelerometers normally only output a characteristic amplitude value, the Japanese Meteorological Agency's (JMA) instrumental intensity, which is not used at the moment. Instead, WARN's driver software, which runs on a computer co-located with the accelerometer, analyzes the accelerometer data on all three axes and looks for the signature of a "P-wave", which is the initial compression wave emanated by the earthquake. This P-wave does not cause damage but travels much faster than the "S-wave" that therefore comes later and causes is at the source of potential damage. If a P-wave is detected, the driver outputs the time of detection of the P-wave. Then the driver analyzes the first few seconds of motion and determines the maximum displacement of the vertical component of the acceleration, which we call Pd, and the maximum period of the vertical component, which we call Tau. The Pd and Tau are then sent out by the driver computer to the Oceans 2.0 software running at the University of Victoria.
...