Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis

Bottom Pressure Recorder

The tsunami BPR uses a pressure transducer manufactured by

Paroscientific, Inc. These transducers use a very thin quartz crystal beam,
electrically induced to vibrate at its lowest resonant mode. This oscillator is
attached to a Bourdon tube that is open on one end to the ocean
environment. As a tsunami wave crest passes over the instrument, the
increased pressure causes the Bourdon tube to uncurl, stretching the
quartz crystal and increasing the vibrational frequency. Conversely, the
passage of a tsunami trough reduces the pressure, allowing the Bourdon
tube to curl more tightly, thereby compressing the quartz crystal and
lowering the vibrational frequency. These quartz crystal vibrational
frequency changes can be measured very precisely by the electronics
system of the tsunami gauge and the frequency changes are then
converted into the corresponding changes in tsunami height. For periods
greater than a minute or so, and for deployments at depths of 5000 m, the
transducer is sensitive to changes in wave height of less than a millimeter.
Eble, M.C., and F.I. Gonzalez (1991):
Deep-ocean bottom pressure measurements in the northeast Pacific.
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 8(2), 221-233.