In March 2008, NOAA's National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) completed the 39-station network of tsunameters. Tsunameters provide coastal communities in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico with faster and more accurate tsunami warnings. In addition to this, the real-time tsunameter data support the research community in improving tsunami warning and detection. The 2004 Sumatra tsunami was detected in lower resolution (1-minute) real-time data of the tsunameters in the North Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Limited (one hour) full resolution (15-s) data are available in near real-time via two-way communications. A self-recording memory card holds the full resolution for an entire deployment, and upon recovery, NDBC forwards these data to NOAA's Center for Tsunami Research and to the long-term archive activity, NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center that makes the data available to other researchers.

The tsunameters employ the second generation Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DARTŪ II) technology that was transitioned from research to operations in 2005.