Testing of a Prototype Tsunami Early Warning System for the Coasts of Italy

Abstract

In the framework of the agreement between Italian Civil Protection and INGV (DPC-S3 project), we are studying the feasibility of a Tsunami Early Warning System (TEWS) for the coasts of Italy. The performances of such a prototype TEWS have been evaluated. The underlying concept is borrowed from the Japan Meteorological Agency's TEWS. This tsunami warning system is in fact based on a set of elementary submarine earthquake sources. In case of an earthquake, the wave heights generated by each elementary source must be interpolated to evaluate in real-time if and where a significant tsunami could have been generated, in order to launch an alert for the most exposed coastlines. A series of synthetic tests have been conducted in order to assess the optimal resolution of the parameter's space sampling, and to construct a sufficiently accurate database of elementary sources. The results of the synthetic tests are presented here. Moreover, the Mw=6.9 May 2003 Boumerdes- Zemmouri (Algeria) earthquake, which generated a moderate tsunami causing significant damages particularly at Balearic Islands (Spain), has been used as a case-study for the validation of the database.