Faulty tsunami buoy off Phuket’s coast doesn’t affect Thailand’s early warning system

[webfact]

Phuket’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation assured that despite a malfunction in one of the tsunami buoys deployed in the Andaman Sea, the country’s tsunami early warning system remains fully operational. The faulty buoy, identified as No.23461, is 340 kilometres off Phuket’s coast and ceased transmitting signals last Wednesday, as the Foundation of National Disaster Warning Council reported.

 

The council expressed concerns that the malfunctioning buoy could leave Thailand vulnerable to tsunamis generated by earthquakes in the region. However, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation clarified on a social media post that the buoy had stopped transmitting signals due to a positional issue, and this would not impact the country’s tsunami early warning system.

 

The department elaborated that the system depends on data from several buoys in the Andaman Sea and other agencies, including the Royal Thai Navy’s Hydrographic Department.

 

“Our tsunami buoys also share information with other agencies both at home and abroad.”

 

by Mitch Connor

Photo courtesy of Royal Thai Navy

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-01-09

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[flyingtlger]

Damn, that one gigantic piece of machinery....

 

[simon43]

[quote]

The department elaborated that the system depends on data from several buoys in the Andaman Sea and other agencies, including the Royal Thai Navy’s Hydrographic Department.

[/quote]

 

Not very reassuring when the majority of those other buoys also seem to be 'off-air'......  And what is a 'positional issue'? That suggests that the buoy is no longer in the location where it should be (dragged anchor etc so that the acoustic transponder on the seabed can no longer communicate with the surface buoy.

 

[Classic Ray]

If the buoy is not necessary, why was it installed in the first place?

 

in other safety-critical applications, equipment is duplicated to avoid a single point failure. 
 

Unless the buoys coverage areas are completely overlapping, there will be a gap in the protected area.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Phuket’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation assured that despite a malfunction in one of the tsunami buoys deployed in the Andaman Sea, the country’s tsunami early warning system remains fully operational

Of course, this one was just a spare doing nothing.

[arick]

Definitely won't affect an early warning system if it's defected. 

[worgeordie]

They must have started to test the buoy's after a fisherman caught an Oarfish ,

a foreteller of tsunami's , reported on here a few days ago , you know how

suspicious Thai's are , it must have kicked them into action .......

 

regards worgeordie 

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

......the buoy had stopped transmitting signals due to a positional issue.....

Prawit came ashore.

[Srikcir]

"A replacement buoy has been procured from the US, expected to be delivered to Thailand in March."

Never anticipated a buoy needing replacement?

It's like an American football team with a missing guard. Still operational to play but missing the guard opens a vulnerability to succeed. 

When the military is trying to buy frigates, missiles, submarines, aircraft fighters, etc. having a couple backup tsunami monitoring bouys would seem just as important to the nation's security. 

[Dickie Dee]

4 hours ago, Classic Ray said:

If the buoy is not necessary, why was it installed in the first place?

 

in other safety-critical applications, equipment is duplicated to avoid a single point failure. 
 

Unless the buoys coverage areas are completely overlapping, there will be a gap in the protected area.

350,000,00 people were killed in December 2004. Redundancies are something I would install. Right after I make sure they tighten plane door bolts. 

[Bday Prang]

would it not have be better and more reassuring just to say nothing?

[cowellandrew]

Get some meth boat drivers on it!

[couchpotato]

4 hours ago, Srikcir said:

"A replacement buoy has been procured from the US, expected to be delivered to Thailand in March."

Never anticipated a buoy needing replacement?

It's like an American football team with a missing guard. Still operational to play but missing the guard opens a vulnerability to succeed. 

When the military is trying to buy frigates, missiles, submarines, aircraft fighters, etc. having a couple backup tsunami monitoring bouys would seem just as important to the nation's security. 

These special Tsunami monitoring buoys are all US Govt manufactured and cost over US$1m each many years ago when the array was installed. (the first buoys were gifted after the 2004 disaster). Since that time they have been replaced many times due to fishing net damage, theft and issues due to lack of maintenance.

One of the other posters was correct that the buoys are placed for maximum coverage (can call it a small array), and if one buoy (or more) is defect, then the data is not 100% reliable. The data is real time transmitted to a Central Hub (not real time to Thailand), but of course is available with a few ms delay to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Nonthaburi (and of course all Tsunami centers around the Globe). Hope this helps.

[fondue zoo]

Can't this be done with Amulets?

They'd be just as effective as an array that is not maintained.

 

 

Edited January 9 by fondue zoo

[Srikcir]

45 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

Hope this helps.

 

46 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

if one buoy (or more) is defect, then the data is not 100% reliable.

Either a bouy is required for an accurate array reporting or not is the issue, not how they work, cost or available. Depending on the criticality of position and amount of data missing, replacement should be ASAP - not months later. When the Thai military looks to spend billions on armaments to defend the nation against non-existent foes, there's no reason not to stockpile a couple of these bouys against the real and often unpredictable tsunami threats.

I hope this helps.

[couchpotato]

36 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

 

Either a bouy is required for an accurate array reporting or not is the issue, not how they work, cost or available. Depending on the criticality of position and amount of data missing, replacement should be ASAP - not months later. When the Thai military looks to spend billions on armaments to defend the nation against non-existent foes, there's no reason not to stockpile a couple of these bouys against the real and often unpredictable tsunami threats.

I hope this helps.

Not really.

The buoys are not owned by Thailand. They do not pay for them. They are only responsible for checking the operation of the buoys. The costs and availability of these buoys (which are tethered to the ocean floor) is prohibitive for stockpiling spares.

Also there other ocean systems scattered around the world, so in a way there is redundancy and overlap for very accurate Tsunami prediction in all oceans, but as I outline below they are not the first line of defence.

 

Also something you may not know...Tsunami buoys are not the first systems used for Tsunami prediction...Thousands of Earthquake Monitoring Stations around the world measure the intensity of earthquakes, and using computor modelling from many many years of data, the likelyhood of a Tsunami generating (and its probable direction and strength) is plotted quite quickly. Data from any ocean buoys can then be used to calculate the velocity/height/timing of the generated waves for the affected area.

Edited January 9 by couchpotato