Tide gauge observations of the Indian Ocean tsunami, December 26, 2004

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 32; no. 9; pp. L09603 - n/a
• Main Authors: Merrifield, M. A., Firing, Y. L., Aarup, T., Agricole, W., Brundrit, G., Chang-Seng, D., Farre, R., Kilonsky, B., Knight, W., Kong, L., Magori, C., Manurung, P., McCreery, C., Mitchell, W., Pillay, S., Schindele, F., Shillington, F., Testut, L., Wijeratne, E. M. S., Caldwell, P., Jardin, J., Nakahara, S., Porter, F.-Y., Turetsky, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 01.05.2005; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Ocean observing systems; Oceanography; Sciences of the Universe
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2005GL022610

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake centered off the west coast of northern Sumatra (3.307°N, 95.947°E) on December 26, 2004 at 00:59 UTC (United States Geological Survey (USGS) (2005), USGS Earthquake Hazards Program‐Latest Earthquakes, Earthquake Hazards Program, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/, 2005) generated a series of tsunami waves that devastated coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean. Tide gauges operated on behalf of national and international organizations recorded the wave form at a number of island and continental locations. This report summarizes the tide gauge observations of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean (available as of January 2005) and provides a recommendation for the use of the basin‐wide tide gauge network for future warnings.