S21A-4411

Tsunami.gov: NOAAs Tsunami Informa5on Portal

Brian Shiro1, John Carrick2, Sid Hellman3, Mark Bernard3, W. Patrick Dildine4

1. NOAA Pacic Tsunami Warning Center, 2. NOAA Na5onal Tsunami Warning Center, 3. Instrumental SoLware Technologies Inc., 4. ERT Corp.

Features & Capabili5es

Mo5va5on
Mul5ple exis5ng tsunami-related websites can make nding
tsunami informa5on challenging. Dierent oces within
mul5ple NOAA branches maintain separate websites and
present informa5on dierently. Today, there is no user-
friendly site where visitors can access current overall tsunami
alert status in a self-consistent way.
NWS

The website is under ac5ve development. Below, we show a

snapshot of the prototype site and some of its key features.
Displays the users
local 7me and date
Tabs show separate
views for U.S. vs.
interna7onal users.

NTHMP
CTWP
NOAA
NOS

NTWC
NDBC
NGDC
NCTR
PTWC

Interac7ve GIS map

allows user to toggle
layers: alert areas,
tsunami forecast,
travel 7me, etc.

Simple design is
accessible, robust,
scalable, and secure.

Advanced historical
event search

Sta7c informa7on
pages: outreach,
news, links, etc.

TWC bulle4ns, earthquake

parameters, alert/threat
areas, tsunami travel
4mes, coastal forecasts,
sea level observa4ons, and
other informa4on are
funneled into TEX
documents.

AJAX

Users

Op7mized for any

screen size or device

Social media, RSS

feeds, email, and
SMS subscrip7on

We developed a new XML format called Tsunami Event XML

(TEX) that provides a medium for tsunami warning centers to
share informa5on and drive the website with dynamic
content. The informa5on is stored in a database and
assembled by the browser into a customized user experience.

Current alert/threat
status clearly visible

Event pages show all

informa7on issued
for each event.

Approach
We are crea5ng a new website portal to be located at
Tsunami.gov that will be a one-stop-shop for NOAA tsunami
informa5on. The rst phase of this project is to combine the
real-5me websites of the Na5onal Tsunami Warning Center
(NTWC) in Alaska and the Pacic Tsunami Warning Center
(PTWC) in Hawaii.



Later, relevant content from other NOAA sites will be
integrated too. This project is part of the larger Tsunami
Informa5on Technology Moderniza5on Project.

How it works

When will it be ready?

This project conducted Cri5cal Design Review in November
2014 and is targeted for comple5on in Summer 2015 .

We welcome your feedback to help Tsunami.gov become an
eec5ve public resource for tsunami informa5on and a
medium to enable be^er global tsunami warning
coordina5on. Thank you!

Contacts: brian.shiro@noaa.gov , john.carrick@noaa.gov ,

s.hellman@is5.com , m.bernard@is5.com ,
wpdildine@gmail.com