“What we learned after the Jan. 23 Alaska earthquake was that our product was not adding value to our stakeholders. At best, we were providing information faster than the other sources and providing them at all classification levels and communication circuits. This new tsunami warning format conveys a lot of information in a single page format, enabling JTWC to contribute to the situational awareness by quickly providing the needed information from the messages without the decision-maker having to discover the ‘so what?’ themselves,” said JTWC Commanding Officer Cmdr. Jillene Bushnell.
JTWC previously retransmitted text-based tsunami information from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) and the National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) for use by the U.S. Navy and its emergency managers and planners. JTWC sends information on any earthquake greater than 6.5 in magnitude and shallower than 100km, since those are the parameters with the potential to generate a tsunami. The previous process replicated the PTWC or NTWC messages by email, chat and text, and on its public-facing website for use by U.S. personnel.
Additionally, JTWC locally produced and published tsunami energy travel maps showing the forecast estimated time of arrival for tsunamis, predicted wave heights during its propagation, and a .kmz overlay forecasting ocean run-up heights in low lying areas. These products will continue to be posted on all of JTWC’s websites, and will now be displayed in a simplified, single-page format under the new concepts of operations.
The previous methodology of information dissemination overwhelmed decision-makers who may have already signed up for PTWC, NTWC and/or the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) earthquake notification service.
Further details on available tsunami products can be found at http://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html?tsunami .
JTWC provides tropical cyclone reconnaissance, forecast, safety warning and decision support services for operational advantage to U.S. government agencies operating in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and tsunami advisory information and recommendations to shore installations and units worldwide.
JTWC is jointly staffed by U.S. Navy and Air Force personnel and falls under the operational control of Commander, Task Force 80.7—Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. U.S. Air Force personnel are sourced to JTWC by the 17th Operational Weather Squadron, a subordinate squadron of the 557th Weather Wing.
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2018 21:42 |
| Story ID: | 276417 |
| Location: | PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 145 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Joint Typhoon Warning Center Updates Tsunami Products, by LT Caitlin Fine, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
