Chilean Tsunameter Project Information

As part of the National Tsunami Warning System (SNAM) of the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA), the first Tsunameter mooring system has been deployed in the northern region of Chile. This area of Chile has a history of generating destructive tsunamis. The main goal is to ensure early detection of tsunamis in the southern Pacific Ocean and to acquire data critical to real-time forecasting of tsunamis. The Tsunameter mooring is essential to fulfilling SHOA's national and international responsibility for tsunami hazard mitigation and warnings.

The operative objectives of the Tsunameter project in Chile are:

1. Incorporate more scientific and technological elements to SNAM to improve the operational capability of SHOA in response to a tsunami earthquake occurring along the Chilean coast, in order to improve response times and prevent the loss of human lives.
2. Designing and implementing an operative methodology for the SNAM, in order to estimate the potential impact of far and near field tsunami waves on the Chilean coast, based on real time data of sea level obtained from the nearest stations to the source and tsunameter buoys.

A scientific objective of the Tsunameter project in Chile is to use the tsunamis signals to infer the seismic parameters of the source (Inverse Method) and this way predict wave forms and maximum levels of tsunami flooding on the Chilean coast, by means of numerical models in real time. The Inverse Method adapted with specific software is used to develop a forecast model of run-ups for the Chilean coast, to assess the impact of extreme events of near and far field tsunamis.