Water Level Data in Support of Tsunami Research

NGDC is the long-term archive for all NOAA coastal tide gauge data: 1-minute water level data from the NOAA/NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) and high-resolution water level data from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/ATWC), and the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC).

In 2007, CO-OPS completed upgrades on tide stations in Alaska, the Pacific Islands, the West Coast, and the Caribbean. The upgraded tide stations are equipped with hardware and software to enable the collection and dissemination of 1-minute water level data. Access 1-minute data from the CO-OPS site.

Marigrams -- Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP)

NGDC also converts tsunami marigrams from analog (microfiche) to high-resolution digital images. Microfiche were created in the 1970s from deteriorating paper records. The project is a multi-year effort, tasked through the Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP). The collection includes records from 1854 to 1981.

Search the collection and download images for select tsunami events. Contact the data manager for the availability of remaining images that are not yet online.

An example of a scanned marigram image (HIGH RES (99Mb) or LOW RES) shows a run-up detected at a Midway Island station from the magnitude 8.2 earthquake that occurred 90 km southeast of Shikotan Island October 1, 1969. The next phase of the project is to convert the scanned images to digital data points. For many of the marigrams this will not be possible due to the quality of the analog data.