CSnet Teams with the Oceanography Centre of Cyprus

CSnet International Inc of Stuart, Florida, through its affiliate CSnet (CYPRUS) Ltd of Limassol, Cyprus, is teamed with the Oceanography Centre of Cyprus to develop and deploy a prototype Tsunami Warning and Early Response system for Cyprus (TWERC).  This system will consist of an array of seismometers and very sensitive pressure sensors configured in an Offshore Communications Backbone (OCB) seafloor array, covering several hundred kilometers of seafloor off the southern coast of Cyprus.

“This system will not only serve to protect citizens and visitors of Cyprus, but also all those along the entire, densely populated eastern Mediterranean coast, a very seismically active region,” said Dr. Andrew Clark, president and chief executive officer of CSnet. 

According to Clark, “Fast-moving tsunamis pose a special threat in the Mediterranean Sea because it is relatively narrow, with a maximum width of only 1,600 kilometers.  By comparison, the Pacific Ocean is so vast that a tsunami traveling at speeds greater than 750 kilometers an hour can still allow for hours of warning.  A tsunami originating at the center of the Mediterranean Sea would arrive on shore within an hour, making real-time monitoring and warning essential.” 

The warning and early response system will incorporate both proven tsunami detection techniques as well as new approaches under evaluation by CSnet, in an effort to develop a highly reliable, yet cost-effective, system that can benefit the developing regions of the world most vulnerable to tsunamis.

“The system will include not only the offshore technology, but also capacity building on shore, including public education and outreach,” said Dr. Georgious Georgiou, director of the Oceanography Centre of Cyprus and TWERC project leader.  “Detecting the wave is only part of the solution.  Transmitting that warning quickly to a population that knows what to do when they receive it is equally critical.”

CSnet International, Inc. addresses the worldwide need for turnkey design, development, deployment, operation and maintenance of large and complex offshore communication networks.