A Deepwater Tsunami Surveillance System for Malaysia

The tragic events of the 26th December 2004 initiated interest in establishing a tsunami surveillance and early warning system in the Indian Ocean and bordering seas. The paper describes the design and installation of a deep-water tsunami detection system for Malaysia. The first buoy in the system has been in operation since December 2005 and will be complemented by two more buoys to provide national tsunami surveillance coverage by mid-2006. The system builds on the Seawatch network developed by Fugro OCEANOR, as well as on the US DART system developed by PMEL. A bottom mounted high-resolution pressure sensor monitored by a processor and powered from onboard batteries form, together with an acoustic modem/release, the seabed part of the system. The seabed unit, the seawatch deep sea module (SDSM), features several novel features to make this a reliable and cost effective solution for tsunami detection. A Wavescan buoy forms the surface part of the system featuring data transmission and measurements of other oceanographic and meteorological parameters, making this a true multi-hazard system.