Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to Close?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The proposed federal budget cuts may affect the entire state of Hawaii, with funding reductions on the Pacific tsunami warning system. Cuts may include:

* 60% decrease in staff
* De-funding of deep ocean early warning buoys
* Closing the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu, leaving the center in Alaska as our only source of information

Should any of these things occur it would result in a "better safe than sorry" warning system, meaning every time officials are unsure about the possible effects of a Pacific area earthquake, an evacuation will be ordered.

It doesn't take a genius to understand the impact this will have. All low elevation, ocean side businesses will need to close. All workers at those businesses will need to leave their jobs. Tourists will be required to evacuate the hotels, either by driving inland, or vertical evacuations to upper level floors. Roads will be closed and rerouted. Those that remain open will be jammed.

How much money will that cost, when it could easily be avoided with the functioning, early warning center that we now have, one which can quickly determine there is no threat? How often will we need to evacuate in the future instead of hearing this announcement:

"BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A DESTRUCTIVE PACIFIC-WIDE TSUNAMI IS
NOT EXPECTED AND THERE IS NO TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII. REPEAT. A
DESTRUCTIVE PACIFIC-WIDE TSUNAMI IS NOT EXPECTED AND THERE IS NO
TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII."

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/35561...-in-hawaii

[leilanidude]

Curious why, with current technology, why so many staff people are needed? Why couldn't the people be in another location?
Wasn't there a news article a couple months back regarding a new technology that was being deployed, to replace those deep ocean buoys anyway?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

with current technology, why so many staff people are needed?

If 100% staff levels are not required, then why close Honolulu, where far more people live, and not Alaska? Honolulu is in the middle of the Pacific and center of the action, affected by quakes in Asia, South America, and the west coast of North America. Alaska in a far upper corner of the Pacific rim.

Wasn't there a news article a couple months back regarding a new technology

There was a story I read that suggested satellites could detect changes in the ocean after a quake. Was that the article you referred to? If so, I seem to remember it was considered a promising technology, with coverage of the entire ocean not just a few selected areas with buoys, but it wasn't fully tested yet.

[leilanidude]

If 100% staff levels are not required, then why close Honolulu, where far more people live, and not Alaska?
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People can be anywhere. Location shouldn't matter. It is remote sensors that send signals to remote systems. Maybe the Honolulu office is losing their lease or it just costs too much?

[alaskyn66]

They could technically outsource the labor to India and have them do the monitoring for pennies on the dollar.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

People can be anywhere.

They can.
But Honolulu officials would better understand the impact of an evacuation on the city and state, especially in borderline situations. Alaska has a much smaller population subjected to tsunami evacuations. Palmer, Alaska has a population of 6,500 people. Officials living and working there probably wouldn't immediately recognize the effects a traffic jam would have on an area with a high density population. Traffic jams in Palmer probably result from a moose or bear on the road.

Alaska is also in an area that was subjected to a 9+ earthquake in 1964, and is much more seismically active than Honolulu. Not the ideal location for the single remaining warning center if the tsunami generating earthquake happens under their facility.

[leilanidude]

Alaska is also in an area that was subjected to a 9+ earthquake in 1964, and is much more seismically active than Honolulu. Not the ideal location for the single remaining warning center if the tsunami generating earthquake happens under their facility.
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Do we know that the Honolulu office is not in a tsunami warning zone, itself?

[Obie]

The Alaska center is located in a fairly safe area.

"The City of Palmer, in the Matanuska Valley 42 miles northeast of Anchorage, was selected as the site for the primary observatory due to its proximity to bedrock for instrumentation and to communications facilities. "

[Eric1600]

People can be anywhere.

Yeah, not really. The Honolulu office has people that know the local conditions which are quite unique due to the large ocean area, tall and wide land masses, island passages and equatorial currents. These are all things that require some local knowledge to get right and often are not in computer generated forecasts.

The article I posted on tsunami warnings using GPS signal shifts due to the ionosphere is experimental and won't replace the deep water buoys.

[leilanidude]

So the real scientists apparently decided which location was most suitable, despite the cries from the Punaweb wannabe scientists in a failed attempt to blame Trump? priceless... Nice job, Obie.