Real-time procedure for detection of a meteotsunami within an early tsunami warning system

A meteotsunami detection algorithm, based on real-time measurements of air pressure, was developed and tested. The algorithm consists of two modules: the first module detects potentially dangerous air pressure disturbances with tendencies exceeding a certain threshold value; the second module determines the speed and direction of propagation of those disturbances. The algorithm was tested on artificial and measured air pressure time series from three Mediterranean meteotsunami hot-spots (the Balearic Islands, the northern Adriatic, the middle Adriatic). Functionality, rapidity and reliability of two methods for determination of the air pressure disturbance’s propagation speed and direction, the isochronal analysis method and the pressure tendency method, were tested. Both methods work acceptably well, and the detection algorithm is generally able to detect potentially dangerous air pressure disturbances and to determine their speed and direction of propagation.