Ionospheric monitoring of tsunamis from low-earth orbit satellites

We propose a two-year project that facilitates the interaction and development of a collaboration between NGI and OCA scientists. Our team brings together expertise in tsunami hazard modeling, as well as tsunami source modeling. The team proposes to develop a methodology to remotely sense tsunami propagation across the open ocean and estimate critical characteristics, e.g., tsunami height. They will do this via observations of the tsunami's imprint on the ionosphere via data collected from GNSS satellite-receiver pairs. The team plans to deliver an open-source software repository based on existing forward modeling and inversion code provided by a 2018 PhD. This code will lay the foundation for further development of the EU Horizon project idea by helping to identify how well various observation platforms (e.g., low-earth orbit satellite receivers) provide tsunami-related ionosphere signals. The team will identify which platforms might be suitable for real-time data exploitation from the standpoint of being used a tsunami early-warning tool. The results of these initial discussions and preliminary studies (some already started at NGI in 2023) will facilitate discussions and provide a framework to develop a novel tsunami monitoring methodology based on remote ionosphere observations.