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Pacific Sea Level Monitoring

Monday, 14 June 2010 11:57 administrator
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The Australian-funded Pacific Sea Level Monitoring (PSLM) network is the only monitoring system of its kind in the Pacific. Since its establishment in 1991, it has provided policy makers, development planners, and scientists in the Pacific Islands with important and reliable information about sea level variability in the region.

Formerly known as the South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project (SPSLCMP), the monitoring array was implemented in 12 member countries as a response to increasing regional concern about climate change-associated sea-level rise.

Over-water monitoring stations in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, PNG, RMI, FSM, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, and Nauru provide a continuous stream of high quality data on sea level, temperature (water and air), barometric pressure and wind speed and direction. In addition, land-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations measure land movements, providing a geodetic benchmark and accurate relative sea level change.

Processed and analysed data are available to the international community and information products and targeted training are delivered to relevant stakeholders in Pacific Island countries.

The PSLM project is housed under the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac) managed by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The project aims to provide an accurate long-term record of sea levels in the South Pacific for member countries and the international scientific community, enabling them to respond to and manage related impacts.

Follow the links below to access PSLM data products:

For more information contact:

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Regional Officer, COSPPac

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Senior Project Officer--Surveying
Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 September 2013 10:41  


Newsflash

Monday 17 June 2013, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) –  The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), with Geoscience Australia, has developed a computer model to help the Government of Tonga see what the impact of a tsunami would be on Tongatapu. Part of an AusAID funded project, the model makes use of high resolution data, the collection of which was made possible by Australia, the European Union, and the New Zealand Ocean Sciences Grant.

The new Tsunami Inundation Model shows that an 8.7 magnitude earthquake in the Tonga Trench would create a wave that would hit the eastern coast of Tongatapu within ten to twenty minutes, inundating most of Nuku’alofa.  Leveni ‘Aho, Director of Tonga’s National Disaster Management Office, says the new computer model has enabled the Government of Tonga to consider how the public would need to respond in a range of possible scenarios.

‘Nuku’alofa has, perhaps, the biggest urban population in the Pacific living in a very low-lying area. We can talk about Japan’s earthquakes but if we can present something that shows what is going to happen to us here at home, the message is much more effective.  For us, it’s an excellent opportunity to help communities to be aware of what could possibly come and what they will need to do if a significant event occurs,’ he says.

After the model was presented to the cabinet and the National Emergency Management Committee, the Hon. Prime Minister Lord Tuʻivakanō indicated that the government would need support to construct access ways to some parts of Nuku’alofa so that the local community can quickly get to safe areas.

Mr ‘Aho says the model is also helping the Government of Tonga to design emergency response measures and improve long-term urban planning for Nuku’alofa and its surrounding villages.‘The tsunami computer model given by SPC has provided the government with a wonderful tool to help us really understand the risks of different scenarios and to prepare in the best ways we can,’ he says.

Mosese Sikivou, Deputy Director of SPC’s Disaster Reduction Programme, says this project is part of SPC’s assistance to Tonga in connection with its Joint National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management, approved by Cabinet in July 2010. The work to develop the model is part of an integrated approach that SPC and other partners are taking right across the Pacific to try and maximise scarce resources and minimise duplication of effort and potential conflict in policy development.