Experts are testing a natural disaster detection system in Southern California that uses global positioning system or GPS technology along with top of the line meteorological and seismic sensors to warn of possible incoming disasters like flash floods, tsunamis and earthquakes.
Experts are testing a natural disaster detection system in Southern California that uses global positioning system or GPS technology along with top of the line meteorological and seismic sensors to warn of possible incoming disasters like flash floods, tsunamis and earthquakes.
It has reportedly already been used to assess the risk of a flash flood during the summer monsoon rain in San Diego, California.
By sending GPS sensors into the atmosphere, experts can measure the amount of water vapor in the air, which can then be used to determine if there will be heavy rains that could cause flash floods in the near future.
Yehuda Bock from Scripps Institution of Oceanography is quoted as saying: “Meaningful warnings can save lives when issued within one to two minutes of a destructive earthquake, several tens of minutes for tsunamis, possibly an hour or more for flash floods, and several days or more for extreme winter storms.”
As the technology develops, researchers say that the inexpensive system could be implemented all over the world, and residents could be warned of a possible natural disaster through a message on their smartphone.
