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An early warning system for tsunamis and underwater earthquakes – powered by artificial intelligence – has been developed by scientists.
A team at Cardiff University has been able to monitor the movement of tectonic plates in real time, combining technology such underwater microphones with AI.
Experts have already used sound recordings to detect 200 earthquakes in the Pacific and Indian Ocean.
Dr Usama Kadri, the study’s co-author and senior lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Cardiff University, said: “Our study demonstrates how to obtain fast and reliable information about the size and scale of tsunamis by monitoring acoustic-gravity waves.
“[They] travel through the water much faster than tsunami waves, enabling more time for evacuation of locations before landfall”.
Acoustic-gravity waves are sound waves that move through the deep ocean at the speed of sound. They can be generated by underwater earthquakes, explosions and landslides – which can all cause tsunamis.
The new system uses the underwater microphone, or hydraphone, recordings and a “computational model” to triangulate the source of the tectonic event, even thousands of kilometres away.
Mr Kadri and his partner, Dr Bernabe Gomez Perez, currently have 11 hydrophones in the sea around the world. He told us that with 24 they would be able to monitor the entire globe.
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Existing warning systems rely on waves reaching sea buoys and seismic sensors to trigger tsunami warnings.
This leaves little time for evacuation, in a situation when a few minutes extra could be the difference between life or death.
However, they are not always accurate in predicting the danger posed by resulting tsunamis.
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