The candidate Thematic Core Service (cTCS) Tsunami coordinates, within the EPOS infrastructure, the provision of various tsunami-related services, such as data (e.g., sea level, historical, submarine landslides), instrument information, tsunami information products, numerical models, and hazard and risk products in Europe.
Tsunamis constitute a significant hazard for European coastal populations, and the impact of tsunami events worldwide can extend well beyond the coastal regions directly affected. Understanding the complex mechanisms of tsunami generation, propagation, coastal amplification, inundation and mapping the tsunami risk and evacuation routes requires multidisciplinary research in basic, applied and social sciences, and infrastructure networks for detection signals from solid (Earth) and fluid (Ocean) environments that cross national boundaries.
Recent decades have seen both significant advances in tsunami science and consolidation of the European tsunami research community. A sustainable platform supporting coordinated tsunami community activities and a hub for tsunami services can foster tsunami basic and applied research and help inform tsunami risk reduction in the North-eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and connected seas (NEAM) area.
Following about three years of preparation, in July 2021, the European tsunami community obtained the Candidate Thematic Core Service (cTCS) status within the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) Research Infrastructure. The cTCS Tsunami aims to develop into a fully operational EPOS TCS within three years.
The overall objectives of cTCS Tsunami are to establish sustainable and harmonized services for Tsunami Science and Tsunami Risk Reduction management and to coordinate the provision of access to - and interaction with - data, products, software, workflows, and other services on a European level and beyond.
The service provision consists of four thematic pillars:
- Support to Tsunami Service Providers
- Tsunami Data
- Numerical Models
- Hazard and Risk Products