The next generation Easy-to-Deploy (ETD) tsunami assessment buoy

This paper addresses the first year of commercial operations of the next-generation tsunami assessment system. Building upon their success with the Deep-ocean Assessment and Recording of Tsunamis (DART^®) buoy systems, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) spent over five years of research and development designing the next-generation Easy-to-Deploy (ETD) DART^® system. Through technology transfer and license agreements, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) produced the first commercial ETD DART^® systems in 2010. SAIC ETD DARTs^® were deployed in the Coral Sea on August 27, 2010 and in the Tasman Sea on April 8, 2011. A third system is scheduled to be deployed south of Bali in August 2011. The Coral Sea ETD DART^® System has been in the ocean operating continuously for over a year. The ETD DARTs^® performance has been exceptional at both the Coral Sea and Tasman Sea locations despite challenging environmental conditions. The Coral Sea system has weathered the impact of a Category 5 cyclone and has detected several tsunami events including the globally observed Honshu tsunami. By design, the ETD DART^® offers significant cost advantages over standard tsunami assessment systems. The ETD DART^® is designed to be deployed by small and fast response vessels, requires fewer trained personnel, and takes only minutes of deployment time. The SAIC ETD DART^® has been certified fully operational and is now an important new technology available to support the global tsunami detection network.