Wednesday, 15 January 2020: 9:30 AM
158 (Boston Convention and Exhibition Center)
Meteotsunamis are low-frequency ocean waves that are induced by large, sudden perturbations in atmospheric pressure. Although pressure-induced open-water waves are typically less than 10 cm in height, coastal shelf resonance and shoaling can cause the waves to grow to 1 m or more, creating hazardous ocean conditions that affect nearshore communities.
NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) has developed a new weather buoy system, the Self-Contained Ocean Observing Payload (SCOOP), which has the capability to record and process meteorological and oceanographic observations every 10 minutes compared to older technology which collected and processed observations only once an hour. This increase in data frequency allows for the detection of rapid atmospheric pressure fluctuations that indicate the potential for a meteotsunami event. To explore these new capabilities, data from SCOOP buoys that were in close proximity to identified meteotsunami events were reviewed. In all cases the nearby SCOOP weather buoys reported a 10-minute atmospheric pressure change exceeding 1.5 hPa in conjunction with wind speeds greater than 5 m s-1.
The timing of these atmospheric pressure changes relative to the water level variation reported by NDBC’s Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) stations and NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) coastal water level gauges is consistent with the expected propagation speed of a meteotsunami wave. These findings indicate that sudden atmospheric pressure changes measured by SCOOP weather buoys can be used in conjunction with the DART and CO-OPS stations to provide advanced warning of possible meteotsunamis to coastal communities.
NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) has developed a new weather buoy system, the Self-Contained Ocean Observing Payload (SCOOP), which has the capability to record and process meteorological and oceanographic observations every 10 minutes compared to older technology which collected and processed observations only once an hour. This increase in data frequency allows for the detection of rapid atmospheric pressure fluctuations that indicate the potential for a meteotsunami event. To explore these new capabilities, data from SCOOP buoys that were in close proximity to identified meteotsunami events were reviewed. In all cases the nearby SCOOP weather buoys reported a 10-minute atmospheric pressure change exceeding 1.5 hPa in conjunction with wind speeds greater than 5 m s-1.
The timing of these atmospheric pressure changes relative to the water level variation reported by NDBC’s Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) stations and NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) coastal water level gauges is consistent with the expected propagation speed of a meteotsunami wave. These findings indicate that sudden atmospheric pressure changes measured by SCOOP weather buoys can be used in conjunction with the DART and CO-OPS stations to provide advanced warning of possible meteotsunamis to coastal communities.
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