New AI technology can predict tsunami impacts in less than a second

"The main advantage of our method is the speed of predictions, which is crucial for early warning," explained Iyan Mulia, the work's lead and a scientist at RIKEN. "Conventional tsunami modeling provides predictions after 30 minutes, which is too late. But our model can make predictions within seconds." To achieve this, the coast now boasts the world's largest network of sensors for monitoring the movement of the ocean floor. About 150 offshore stations make up this network and work together in order to provide early warnings of tsunamis. To function effectively, however, the data generated by the sensors needs to be converted into tsunami heights and extents along the coastline.