Tsunami Buoy

A tsunami buoy is the moored surface buoy of a DART station, the relay that carries seafloor tsunameter data to shore. It receives bottom pressure measurements from the seafloor recorder over an acoustic modem, then transmits them by Iridium satellite to NOAA tsunami warning centers in near real time. The buoy switches the system into event mode, reporting at 15-second to 1-minute intervals when the tsunameter detects a wave, against the routine 15-minute standard mode. NOAA and international partners operate a network of these stations across the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Caribbean basins, the open-ocean confirmation layer that turns a seismic alert into a sized tsunami forecast.