PRESERVATION AND ACCESS OF TSUNAMI DATA AT NOAA's NATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL DATA CENTER (NGDC)

NOAA has primary responsibility for providing tsunami warnings to the Nation, and a leadership role in tsunami observations and research. The NESDIS/National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) provides the long-term archive, data management, and access to national and global tsunami data for research and mitigation of tsunami hazards. Archive responsibilities include global historic tsunami event and runup data, deep-ocean and coastal water level data, event-specific tide-gauge data from historic marigrams, photos showing effects and damage from tsunamis, tsunami publications, as well as other related hazards data and information. Much of these data are contained in historic documents and photographs. Through the NOAA Climate Data Modernization Program (CDMP), NGDC has rescued over 10,000 digital photographs dating from the 19^th century, over 3,000 historic tide gauge records from 1850-1980, and over 5,000 publications dating from the 15^th century.

Much of these tsunami data are currently accessible over the web as tables, reports, images, and interactive maps. NGDC has an effective and widely known distribution system through which data are provided to users in a wide range of disciplines. Scientists, emergency managers, and planners use long-term data from these events, including photographs, to establish the past record of tsunami event occurrences. The data are also important for planning, response, and mitigation of future events and are in danger of being lost if they are not converted to a digital format. If researchers have access to all of the information concerning a past tsunami event it could ultimately lead to lives being saved and property damage avoided.