Buoy Delivered for
Tsunami Detection
By Gary Bracken & Rachel O'Sullivan
Spurred by the devastation of the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people, Science Applications International Corporation has produced a commercially available, fully operational, tsunami detection buoy that has passed stringent government testing requirements and demonstrated its ability to detect an actual tsunami at sea. The effort to develop this system was led by Rob Lawson, vice president and business development manager in the Naval and Maritime Solutions business unit at SAIC. His goal was to leverage SAIC's strengths across the company to produce an enhanced and reliable deepwater sensor that could meet the emerging requirements of the international marketplace. "We put together a team of incredibly talented engineers, scientists and technicians from across the company who were deeply committed to this project; and their performance has been nothing short of spectacular," said Lawson. After the Indian Ocean tsunami, SAIC was active in supporting the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's efforts to develop a tsunami warning system and mitigation plan for the Indian Ocean region. "As each country in the region developed their requirements, we recognized many of these underdeveloped countries would need significant technical assistance to fully execute their plans. Our original focus was on data fusion, consequence assessment tools and warning center architecture but we quickly realized the cornerstone of any tsunami warning system was reliable tsunami detection buoys that could meet very stringent standards," said
Jimmy Thai, SAIC Tsunami Buoy Program Manager, inspects the buoy one last time.
Launch of the bottom pressure recorder. 26 MTR April 2007
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