BARC develops tsunami warning system back-up

The indigenous model, used to simulate Dec 26, 2004 tsunami, can act as a back-up to the National Tsunami Warning System expected to be in place in 2007.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed a computer model to simulate tsunami and "it could act as a back-up to the upcoming National Tsunami Warning System", a scientist said in Mumbai on Friday.

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The indigenous model, used to simulate December 26, 2004 tsunami, "can act as a back-up to the National Tsunami Warning System (NTWS) which is expected to be in place in 2007," Dr RK Singh of the Reactor Safety Division, also chief coordinator of the project, told reporters at the exhibition organised by the Department of Atomic Energy.

Some of the parameters used in simulation model include subduction movement, all information on faults in the Indian Ocean region causing quakes, shallow water equation and sea bathymetry, Singh said.

The model could help the scientists as to where to put Bottom Pressure Recorders in optimal manner, as they would help in locating those tsunami-warning sensors. The model could also help in selecting the sites for keeping the sensors at the ocean bottom, he added.

BARC is also negotiating with other institutes which are involved in installation of NTWS like National Geophysical Research Institute, Navy, National Institute of Oceanography and Geological Survey of India so that sensors could be placed intelligently under the ocean bottom to facilitate TWS, Singh added.