High Frequency (HF) Radar Detection of the Weak 2012 Indonesian Tsunamis

Remote Sensing

Belinda Lipa²  Donald Barrick¹  Subandono Diposaptono³  James Isaacson⁴  Basanta Kumar Jena⁶  Bruce Nyden¹  Kuppili Rajesh⁵ 

[1] Codar Ocean Sensors, 1914 Plymouth St., Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; E-Mails:;Codar Ocean Sensors, 125 La Sandra Way, Portola Valley, CA 94028, USA;Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Gedung Mina Bahari III Lt. 9 Jln. Medan Merdeka Timur No. 16, Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia; E-Mail:;Codar Ocean Sensors, 5 Sunset Trail, Sunset Valley, TX 78745, USA; E-Mail:;Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, “Ocean Valley”, Paragathi Nagar (BO), Nizampet (SO), Hyderabad 500090, India; E-Mails:;National Institute of Ocean Technology, Velachery-Tambaram Main Road, Narayanapuram, Pallikaranai, Chennai 600 100, Tamil Nadu, India; E-Mail:

关键词: radar oceanography;    remote sensing;    current velocity measurement;    tsunami detection;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs4102944

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We report here on the observation and offline detection of the weak tsunamis generated by earthquakes near Indonesia on 11 April 2012 using radar systems and tide gauges on the coasts of Sumatra and the Andaman Islands. This work extends the previous observations of the much stronger 2011 Japan tsunami. The distance offshore at which the tsunami can be detected, and hence the warning time provided, depends primarily on the bathymetry: the wider the shallow continental shelf, the greater this time. The weak Indonesia tsunamis were detected successfully in spite of the narrow shallow-water shelf offshore from the radar systems. Larger tsunamis could obviously be detected further from the coast. This paper provides further confirmation that radar is an important tool to aid in tsunami observation and warning.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors, licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.