untitled

TIDE TOOL:
SOFTWARE TO ANALYZE
GTS SEA-LEVEL DATA

Stuart A. Weinstein

, Laura S.L. Kong

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center , NOAA/NWS, USA

International Tsunami Information Center/UNESCO-NOAA, USA

SOPAC STAR 2009

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

WMO GTS –
Global Telecommunications
System:

*Source: http://www.wmo.ch/pages/prog/drr/events/humanitarian/Documents
/HumanitarianBackground%20document.pdf

•

Comprised of a network of surface / satellite-based
telecommunications links and centers.

•

System for global exchange of meteorological, climatic,
seismic, other data to support early warning / forecast

•

TWCs (Tsunami Warning Centers) rely on GTS
for near-real time sea-level data from ~400 stations
globally and to transmit Tsunami Bulletins.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Downloaded at Wallops Island
VA/USA and forwarded to the
US TWCs and Met. Offices.

Hiva

CHANNEL 32

GOESW

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

GTS Sea-Level Data is structured in

different formats. ~12 basic formats

UHSLC format (Manzanillo, MX) Readable ASCII (XMT 5min)‏

SEPA40 KWAL 050000

(WMO HEADER Origin Mdhhmm)‏

^^3541502E

(Platform ID#)

186000003 :PRS 0 #1 9140 9139 ……

9139 9068 8284 8446

(Readings in mm)

:RAD 1 #1 6494 6483 6483 ……

:BAT 4 #5 13.3 :NAME 3541502E 38+0NN 216W

(GOESW Chan 216)‏

NOS “Tsunami Expert” Station (Nawiliwili, Hawaii USA)‏

SXXX03 KWAL 050000

Base 64 Encoding (XMT 6min)‏

^^336015FC 186000041"P16114001@|]~[@@v0KwW1@il@WADWDM>
@ij5DY<U`2@Rs@T@"@Rt kTWyJBQBeBcB^BqBo 41+0NN 148W

(one minute data)

‏

NTF (Australia) Station (Port Vila, Vanuatu)‏

SXPS85 RJTD 042300

(RJTD indicates origin is Tokyo, Japan)‏

AAXX 04234
91559 46/// /9901 10257 40128 22200 00260

555 77744 A0103 44200 30031 1265B 03017 74002 00A07 .....

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

For a TWC to use GTS Sea-Level Data,
the TWC needs (at minimum):

1. Access to GTS Data!

(Easier said than done in many cases)

2. Decoder to translate Sea-Level

messages into sea-level data (Tide Tool)

3. MetaData Database (used by decoder).

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool – history, use

• Originally developed in Nov 2005

to give BMKG (Indonesia) new capability to
decode GTS sea-level messages from Indian /
Pacific sea-level stations.

• Since 2005, Tide Tool has grown in sophistication
• Now, operational sea-level processing system at

PTWC and other centers

(Indonesia, Malaysia,

Singapore, Mauritius, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, …
Installed /to be installed in Samoa, Solomons, Vanuatu,
Tonga, Tuvalu, Fiji, PNG Met Offices)

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool – how it works

1. Decoder which reads log files of GTS sea-level

messages and a sea-level station metadata base.

2. Dynamic map based clients that allow the user to

select a single station or a group of stations to
display and analyze

Tide Tool continuously decodes sea-level messages in
real-time and displays time series using open source,
platform independent, graphical scripting language Tcl/Tk.

Tide Tool consists of two main parts:

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Requirements

In order to decode GTS messages, run dynamic map clients
and display time series, the following are required :

• Computer running Tcl/Tk software with BLT extension.

• GTS Sea level messages that are continuously archived

into log file. Link to data via country's Met Service

• Tide.tcl and client Tcl/Tk scripts.

(contains decoder and creates marigram displays)‏

• Sea-level Station metadata.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool

• PTWC actively maintains database (COMP_META) of all

GTS-transmitted sea-level stations.

• Tide Tool reads database to understand how messages are

structured so that it can properly decode.

manz Manzanillo_MX 3541502E SEPA40 prs 1 10 M 3 -1 1.0000

005 0000 19.0558 -104.3176 1 UHSLC 163

manz Manzanillo_MX 3541502E SEPA40 rad 1 10 M 3 -1 1.0000

005 0000 19.0558 -104.3176 1 UHSLC 163

COMP_META metadata database

The COMP_META database has ~1000 entries

*A googleearth kml representation of the COMP_META
Database is available at

www.sealevelstations.org

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Decoder

(Tide.tcl script)‏

•Reads and decodes GTS sea-level

messages from the logfile.

•Constructs main GUI
which responds to mouse
clicks.

•Sends / services
Instructions to / from
clients respectively.

•Supports multiple clients via

sockets.

•Creates transmission report

and determines status of
stations.

•Scrollable.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Monitor Widget

•

• Can display up to three different time series:

Green – Actual time series

White – De-tided time series

Blue -- Predicted time series

•Two de-tiding options: permanent or

on-the-fly coefficients.

•Despike option based on

three point median.

•Station location map option

showing reverse travel-time
contours.

•Rubber banding zoom
option to expand time series.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Zoom Widget

• Used to measure tsunami wave arrival time,

amplitude, and period with mouse
clicks and record measurements
in a file.

•Can display up to three different

time series:

Green – Actual time series

White – De-tided time series

Blue -- Predicted time series

•Two de-tiding options: permanent

or on-the-fly coefficients.

•De-spike option based on three

point median.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Map Clients

• Scrollable.

• Indicates station status (color).

Pacific Client

Caribbean Client

Indian Client

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Map Clients

• Double click on a station

• Menu to display sensor
time series, station info,
recent GTS messages,
Geographic map with
Tsunami travel-times.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

Tide Tool Clients

•

Draw a rectangle (rubber banding)

to zoom in on a region and tile the screen.

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

IOC
SL Station
Monitoring
Facility
(web public

access)

http://www.vliz.be/gauges/map.php

Real-Time Earthquake Display

and Alert System (CISN)

Internet

Passive

(automatic

receive)

Multi

platform

EQ broadcast

Alert system

(SMS, email)

GIS layers

Tsunami

Warning msgs

Sign-up - Contact:

itic.tsunami@unesco.org

SOPAC STAR 2009, Vanuatu

THANK YOU!