National Tsunami Alarm System - Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy
Original (non-English) name
Sistema Nacional de Alarma de Maremotos - Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada de Chile
Acronym
SNAM - SHOA
Citation
Abstract
The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy (SHOA) is the technical, permanent and official body of the State, responsible for the operation, operation and maintenance of the National Tsunami Alarm System (SNAM).
As a fundamental element of support to its operational task, the SHOA has begun in 1997 the execution of the CITSU Project, elaboration of Tsunami Flood Charts for the coast of Chile, tools that allow to define the maximum flood levels expected for the main urban and port areas of the Chilean coastline, in the event of near-field tsunamigenic seismic events.
To quantitatively evaluate the risk of tsunami of tectonic origin in coastal areas, it has been necessary to carry out interdisciplinary studies in seismology, geology, geophysics and oceanography, including the review of historical sources. Within this context, tsunami modeling has been used to discriminate between different possible scenarios (ie source location and rupture mechanisms) that may affect a particular region, preparing a Flood Chart for the most extreme seismic event, either known or probable.
Currently, numerical simulation is the best geophysical and hydrodynamic analysis technique available to study tsunami risk in areas where historical records are insufficient. The model that has been applied to develop the CITSU project, COMCOT (Cornell Multi-grid Coupled Tsunami Model) designed by Dr. SN Seo based on the model of Shuto's (August 10, 1993) and Yongsik Cho (August 10, 1993) at the Cornell University School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.