GPS and Disaster Warnings

By Greg Bartlett

This is the time of year when everyone is just a tad more conscious of the weather. Cold fronts and ice storms serve as a little reminder of how beholden we are to nature. What truly is frightening however are the natural disasters that strike suddenly without warning. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and even volcanic eruptions still make their impact on populations around the globe, but clever implementations of GPS trackers are starting to give officials the warning they need to save lives.

GPS Tracking & Weather

In 2002, researchers at the University of Nevada developed one of the first practical “GPS displacement” systems – a set of ocean buoys mounted with GPS trackers that could successfully detect the signs of an underwater earthquake and its accompanying tsunami. GPS trackers on the ocean’s surface and similar probes within the ocean floor could detect minute dips in elevation as well as transmit data regarding sea and atmospheric pressure. By late 2008, scientists at NASA and NOAA came up with models for reading, processing, and interpreting the data from the GPS trackers quickly.

Under the old seismographic system of detection, underwater earthquakes were detected indirectly by sensing the upheaval in the ocean floor over a series of shockwaves. Scientists would then need to triangulate the velocity of the waves before being sure of an impending disaster. Seismographs also have the propensity to give false warnings, which have reduced their credibility in developing countries where disaster preparedness is almost nonexistent. However, GPS trackers can transmit the same data much more quickly by measuring the simple displacement of the ocean floor and relaying the information directly to officials via satellite. Better yet, scientists can use the same basic technology to track hurricanes and even measure the ground displacement caused by active volcanoes.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia took the lives of some quarter of a million people across Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Islands. Several earthquakes since then have failed to produce major tsunamis, but the danger is still very real to all coastlines facing the Pacific. USAID has donated a number of GPS tracker buoys to Thailand and others, and local officials have used the gifts to double as small radio towers for community broadcasts. This reduces the possibility of vandalism and theft.

GPS tracking technology has greatly advanced the ability of scientists and researchers to track the motions of nature. Thankfully the most immediate and practical uses aren’t being ignored.

Tags: GPS Tracker, safety, technology