An ocean observatory—consisting of a real‐time, cabled array in the Sea of Oman and an internally recording, autonomous mooring array recently upgraded to a cabled array in the northern Arabian Sea—celebrated more than 2500 days of continuous operation in July 2012. The observatory, which measures a range of properties, such as water current velocities, temperature, salinity, pressure, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity, is part of the Lighthouse Ocean Research Initiative (LORI) project [du Vall et al., 2011], which was designed as a pilot project and installed in 2005 in the region off Abu Bakara (Figures 1a and 1b). The initial goal of the project was to prove that an in situ, cabled ocean observatory can return high‐quality scientific data on a real‐time basis over longer time periods than conventional moored systems. That same year, an autonomous array was deployed off Ras al Hadd and on Murray Ridge in the Arabian Sea (Figure 1a).
This technical note provides a summary of a uniquely designed tsunami early warning system consisting of an ocean bottom seismometer, an accelerometer, a differential pressure gauge, and a bottom pressure recorder. The system has advantages over other tsunameters
currently in use because it receives power and reports data continuously, via fiber-optic cable, allowing for the maximum amount of lead time between receipt and analysis of data; warnings may then be issued earlier, resulting in additional time to evacuate vulnerable areas. The system was
developed in a collaborative effort between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Lighthouse R & D Enterprises, Inc., during 2006 and installed in 2007 off the northern coast of Oman on an extended portion of a preexisting physical oceanographic cabled monitoring system. The goal was
to produce a system capable of determining the magnitude and mechanism of earthquakes—even very large, local ones—and of sensing the large-wavelength, low-amplitude waves characteristic of tsunamis in the open ocean. Since 2009, the system has been recognized by the International
Tsunameter Partnership (commissioned by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as operational, but it has yet to be integrated with national or regional warning centers. A numerical modeling suite was developed
to estimate tsunami impact at any given location along the Omani coast and is intended to function as a complementary tool for analysis of the real-time data. Real-time data receipt combined with accurate analysis will lead to earlier and more reliable warnings that may help save additional
lives.
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