SGER: Exploratory Research on Sensor Based Infrastructure for Early Tsunami Detection

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This proposal for a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) brings together experts from the information technology and disaster management communities to focus on a key element for an effective tsunami mitigation infrastructure, namely the early and accurate detection of potential tsunami threats. The proposed research will identify and examine issues related to the development of a fully integrated socio-technical solution for early tsunami (and related threats) detection that affect the South Asian region. The research team will seek dynamic, adaptive, and robust infrastructures that can evolve from a small set of primitive sensors into a knowledge network capable of sensing and communicating data accurately and reliably. The primary outcome will be a research design for a feasible, low-cost system for early detection of tsunamis with corroborating information from seismic movement in land-based infrastructure systems;The key products of this research will include: 1) formation of an interdisciplinary, international team of leaders and experts to develop short-term and long-term technological challenges faced by tsunami warning systems and regulators; 2) identification of the operational limitations of present tsunami warning systems, with a focus on areas of major improvement; 3) specification of the major requirements for the development of a feasible and cost-effective tsunami early detection system; 4) identification of the technical challenges to the development and deployment of an accurate and reliable system which meets the specified requirements and outline possible approaches to their solution; and 5) determination of the social challenges for a fully integrated socio-technical early detection system.The broader impacts of this research include the development of socio-technical approaches to the early detection and mitigation of tsunamis and related seismic threats, and to the design of professional education and training for socio-technical researchers in the field of disaster risk reduction. Both impacts will have a significant effect in enabling risk-prone communities to reduce disaster risk more effectively.