The nation does not have an adequate number of buoys along the southwest coast for a tsunami warning system after two buoys were destroyed at sea, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration developed a monitoring system using mid-frequency buoys manufactured by Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), the bureau said, adding that Taiwan joined the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centers’ (PTWC) observation network after it purchased a monitoring system in 2018.
If large earthquakes occur in Indonesia or the South-Pacific region, the buoy system transmits data to the PTWC and the weather bureau, CWB Seismological Center Director Chen Kuo-chang (陳國昌) said, adding that the information helps the two agencies more accurately estimate a tsunami’s impact and issue warnings accordingly.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Bureau
Taiwan installed a monitoring buoy off its southeast coast and another buoy off its southwest coast, Tung Chun-ci (滕春慈) of the CWB Marine Meteorology Center said.
The first buoy has functioned reliably since its installation, but the installation of the second buoy was not as successful, Tung said.
The New Ocean Researcher ship installed the second buoy in October 2018, but it stopped sending signals in January 2019, she said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Bureau
The buoy was thought to have sunk or drifted from its original location after being hit by seagoing vessels, she added.
Another buoy was installed at the site in August last year, but it began making abnormal reports on March 4, Tung said, adding that the buoy still sent signals, although tracking showed that it had drifted away from the installation site.
When the buoy was located on March 13, researchers found that its steel cables had been cut and its equipment removed, rendering it ineffective.
“The buoys installed by the CWB and the National Taiwan University [NTU] Ocean Center had anti-collision lights, radar reflectors and the CWB’s name on them to alert vessels,” Teng said.
“We think it was unlikely that the buoys were destroyed by Taiwanese fishers. They might have been damaged by fishing vessels from other countries or military ships,” she said.
“As the buoys did not have a surveillance device, it would be difficult for us to determine what happened,” she added.
Yang Yiing-jang (楊穎堅), a professor at NTU’s Institute of Oceanography and team leader at the Ocean Center, said that researchers around the world have encountered similar problems.
“The problem is that tsunami buoys are very expensive, with each set costing NT$30 million [US$1 million], which is three to four times more than a meteorology buoy. We can only purchase tsunami buoys from SAIC,” he said. “If a buoy is broken, it has to be sent back to SAIC for repairs, because Taiwan does not have the technology to fix it. Reinstalling it also requires SAIC’s assistance.”
The CWB is also in a bind when it comes to choosing the proper site to install a tsunami buoy, Teng said.
“Installing a buoy farther from the coast would alert people longer before a tsunami strikes, but it would be more difficult to ensure that the buoy is intact,” Teng said. “It is easier for us to monitor the buoy if it is installed closer to the coast, but then the tsunami alert time is shorter.”
Tsunami alerts could be issued without the benefit of tsunami buoys or submarine cables, CWB Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said.
“We have our own earthquake detection system that gathers information and also monitors tsunami alerts from the PTWC,” Cheng said. “Tsunami buoys or submarine cables help give people a longer alert time and enable us to gauge a tsunami’s impact more accurately before issuing warnings. We hope to open another public tender for a submarine cable project after raising the funds for it.”
The CWB has planned to install an 800km-long submarine cable from off the southern coast of Pingtung County to Luzon, Philippines, to detect tsunamis, but it has yet to secure a contractor for the project after five public tenders.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS