GPS World - February 2008 - (Page 56)

INNOVATION | System Design & Test p FIGURE 7 The total electron content (TEC) between 01:00 and 01:15 UT on December 26, 2004, at ionosphere pierce points (IPPs) provided by a global network of more than 1,000 GPS tracking stations. To highlight variations, a five-day average of TEC has been subtracted from the observed TEC. This permits us to focus our detection efforts on specific locations and times, and will allow us to discriminate signal from noise. The model also provides information on the expected magnitude of the TEC perturbation. This provides further value in filter discrimination. Cross-correlations can be performed on nearby observations using different satellites and stations to take advantage of tsunami-related perturbations being coherent in geometry and distance from the epicenter. Once the signal is detected in data from multiple satellites and stations, we can “track” and image the tsunami during its propagation in space and time. The goal of our research is to assess the feasibility of detecting tsunamis in near real time. This requires that GPS data be acquired rapidly. Rapid availability of ground-based GPS data has been demonstrated via the NASA Global Differential GPS System, a highly accurate, robust real-time GPS monitoring and augmentation system. all stations in the global network. We solve for the instrumental biases by modeling the ionospheric delay and removing it from the observation. Ionospheric Warning System The currently implemented tsunami warning system uses seismometers to detect earthquakes and to perform an estimation of the seismic moment by monitoring seismic waves. After a potential tsunami risk is determined, ocean buoy and pressure sensors have to confirm the tsunami risk. Unfortunately, the number of available ocean buoys is limited to about 70 over the whole planet. With the existing system, it may take several hours to confirm a tsunami when taking into account both the propagation time (of tsunamis reaching buoys) and data-processing time. On the other hand, the proposed ionosphere-based tsunami detection system may only require the propagation time and data-processing delays of only up to about 15–30 minutes. GPS receivers are able to sound the ionosphere up to about 20 degrees away from the receiver location, and a dense GPS network can therefore increase the coverage of the monitored area. The fundamental idea behind a detection method is that we need to separate tsunami-generated TEC signatures from other sources of ionospheric disturbances. However, the tsunami-generated TEC perturbations are distinguishable because they are tied to the propagation characteristics of the tsunami. Tsunami-related fluctuations should be in the gravity-wave period domain and cohere in geometry and distance with the earthquake epicenter (for example, they show up in data on multiple satellites from multiple stations and, with increasing distance from the epicenter, at a rate related to tsunami propagation speed). The coupled tsunami model described earlier can also be used to compute a prediction for the tsunami-generated TEC perturbation based on the seismic displacement as an input parameter to the model. The model prediction may be used as a detection aid by indicating the location of the tsunami wave front with time. 56 GPS World | February 2008 Conclusions Earlier research using GPS-derived TEC observations has revealed TEC perturbations induced by tsunamis. However, in our research, we use a combination of a coupled ionosphere-atmosphere-tsunami model with large GPS data sets. Ground-based GPS data are used to distinguish tsunami-generated TEC perturbations from background fluctuations. Tsunamis are among the most disrupting forces humankind faces. The December 26, 2004, earthquake and resulting tsunami claimed more than 200,000 lives, with several hundreds of thousands of people injured. The damage in infrastructure and other economic losses were estimated to be in the range of tens of billions of dollars. To help prevent such a global disaster from occurring again, we suggest that ionospheric sounding by GPS be integrated into the existing tsunami warning system as soon as possible. Acknowledgments This article is based on the paper “Three-Dimensional Waveform Modeling of Ionospheric Signature Induced by the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami” published in Geophysical Research Letters. GIOVANNI OCCHIPINTI received his Ph.D. at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) in 2006. In 2007, he joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, as a postdoctoral fellow to continue his work on the detection and modeling of tsunamigenic perturbations in the ionosphere. He will soon take up the position of assistant professor at the University of Paris and IPGP. His scientific interests are focused on solid Earth-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling. ATTILA KOMJATHY is senior staff member of the Ionospheric and Atmospheric Remote Sensing Group of Tracking Systems and Applications Section at JPL, specializing in remote sensing techniques. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at the University of New Bruns-wick, Canada, in 1997. He has received the Canadian Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence and NASA awards including an Exceptional Space Act Award. PHILIPPE LOGNONNÉ is the director of the Space Department of IPGP, a professor at the University of Paris VII, and a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. His science interests are in the field of remote sensing and are related to the detection of seismic waves and tsunamis in the ionosphere. Also, he participates in several projects in planetary seismology. www.gpsworld.com http://www.gpsworld.com

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GPS World - February 2008 Contents Out in Front Expert Advice Galileo's Second Coming Soon UPS First to Use ADS-B European Industry Group Galileo Validation 2008 Antenna Survey Tsumani Detection by GPS Classifieds Advertisers Index Seen + Heard

GPS World - February 2008

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