THE FRENCH TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTHEAST ATLANTIC: CENALT

Abstract

CENALT (CENtre d’ALerte aux Tsunamis) is responsible for the French National Tsunami Warning Centre (NTWC). The CENALT is established in the framework of the Unesco/IOC/ICG/NEAMTWS. Its objective is to transmit a warning message in less than fifteen minutes for any events that could trigger a tsunami in the Western Mediterranean Sea and the North- Eastern Atlantic Ocean. The data collected from French installations and from institutions of European and North African countries is processed with software that permits early epicenter location of seismic events and measurements of expected tsunami impacts on the shore. On-duty analysts revise interactively all the generated information and use references of historical tsunami and earthquake databases - as well as computed tsunami scenarios – in order to disseminate the more comprehensive message possible.

Keywords

• Tsunami
• warning
• centre
• France
• Mediterranean
• Atlantic