INCOIS keeps watch on Barren Island volcano
- November 20, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
INCOIS keeps watch on Barren Island volcano
Subject :Geography
Context-
- The volcano on the Barren Island of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is being closely watched by the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), to check for signs of an eruption which could lead to a tsunami or a monstrous undersea landslide akin to what had happened in Indonesia in 2018.
Volcano emitting smoke
- The volcano about 140 km northeast of Port Blair has been emitting smoke and is not capable of causing major destruction but there could be a localised tsunami.
Early warning system to track movements-
- The organisation already have seven tide gauges in the Indian Ocean and there is a plan to put a seismic sensor and another tide gauge to catch any movement generated underwater.
- Recent tsunamis, including one in Tonga this year, have brought to the fore the challenge of tsunamis triggered by non-earthquake sources such as submarine landslides and volcanic eruptions.
Tsunami-
- The series of extremely long waves, Tsunamis are very long wavelengths of water caused by a large and sudden displacement of the ocean due to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc.
- These are also called seismic sea waves and are one of the most powerful and destructive natural forces.
- Tsunamis can travel from 800 kmph in the deep ocean and about 30 kmph near the shore, with wave heights ranging from less than a metre to nine metres when they reach the shoreline.
- Though the devastating tsunami of December 2004 has faded away from public memory, ITEWC continues its round-the-clock vigil for unusual happenings on the sea to give advance warnings to 25 countries apart from India.
Causes of Tsunami-
- Earthquake
- Underwater explosion
- Volcanic eruption
- Landslide
- Meteorite Impacts
Tsunamigenic earthquake-
- Scientists have calculated that it would take a magnitude of more than 6.5 on the Richter scale for a ‘tsunamigenic’ earthquake occurring in the Indian Ocean to hit the Indian coast, with travel time being 20 to 30 minutes to reach the A&N islands and two or three hours to hit the mainland.
- On India’s west coast, off the Arabian Sea, it could emerge from the Makran region and take two or three hours to reach the Gujarat coast.
- Whenever an earthquake of more than 6.5 on the Richter scale occurs within the Indian Ocean (or above 8 on the Richter scale in other regions), timely and accurate tsunami bulletins are generated.