Scientists at the University of Hawaii-Manoa and NOAA’s Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center believe commercial ships could assist in
providing warnings for potentially deadly tsunamis. Commercial
shipping lines traverse the Pacific basin and could initiate
global coverage around areas of the Earth that produce tsunamis.
All ocean-going vessels are equipped with high-accuracy GPS and
satellite communications, and a sensing network would improve
the detection and predictions of tsunamis. Researchers believe
the proposed network would have detected the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami within an hour, saving thousands of lives. Initial
tsunami warnings are based on seismic earthquake data and
commercial ships could fill in the blanks to determine the size
and direction of a deadly tsunami. Fastcast: Cooler.