SENAT
Report n° 117 (2007-2008) by M. Roland COURTEAU, Senator (for the parliament office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices) - Appendix to the minutes of the 7 December 2007 session
Disponible au format Acrobat (21 Moctets)
b) A strong increase in funding for tsunami-related research
At both the national and European Commission level, the Sumatra tsunami led to the funding of numerous tsunami-related research projects.
In 2005, the ANR (France's National Research Agency) launched its Telluric Disaster and Tsunami Programme (CATTELL), in order to develop fundamental research on those phenomena generating great telluric disasters. Four main lines were established:
- Seismotectonic risks: Promoting research on active continental and underwater faults, decrypting the history of seismogenic zones, modelling the propagation of seismic waves, early warning systems for earthquakes, and the seismic vulnerability of buildings/structures;
- Tsunami-related risks: Selected projects must study tsunami-generating processes and technological research on the tsunami warning systems;
- Gravity-related risks: Research on the processes of terrestrial and submarine landslides, physical phenomena of flows/slides, and technology related to the monitoring of these phenomena;
- A transversal line of study: Supporting technological and methodological research on these natural risks and developing the socio-economic dimension of early warning systems.
In 2005, 17 projects were selected for a total budget of €5.17 million. 61% of the projects were related to seismic risk, but tsunami-related risks represented the second most funded theme, accounting for 17% of the financed projects.
In 2006, €4.2 million were attributed to the CATTELL Programme. 14 projects were selected, with 69% of the funding going to earthquake-related studies; no tsunami-related study was selected.
The European Commission also financed numerous research programmes following the Sumatra tsunami of 26 December 2004.
Certain projects had already been carried out prior to this devastating tsunami. GITEC (Genesis and Impact to Tsunamis in the European Community) and GITEC TWO (Tsunami Warning and Observations) had allowed for the creation of a European tsunami catalogue (with 228 events recorded from 6000 B.C. to 2003 A.D.) and the improvement of simulation techniques. In addition, several experimental tsunami warning systems had been tested off the coast of Portugal, in the Ionian Sea and in the Peloponnese.
Likewise, the BIGSETS (Big Sources of Earthquake and Tsunami in South West Iberia) project improved our understanding of the origins of the 1755 tsunami that devastated Lisbon.
In the 6 th Research Framework Programme (2002-2006), €48 million were dedicated to natural disasters, €7.45 million of which went to the study of tsunamis within the framework of three projects: TRANSFER, NEAREST and SEAHELLARC.
The TRANSFER (Tsunami Risk and Strategies For the European Region) project enjoys funding of €3.3 million and groups together 29 partners. The project began 1 October 2006 and will continue until April 2009. Its objective is to improve our understanding of tsunami propagation in the Mediterranean and help set up a tsunami warning system for this zone. 9 workpackages have been formed around the following themes:
- Improving and updating the European tsunami catalogue and integrating it into the global tsunami catalogue;
- Identifying and characterizing the seismic and nonseismic sources of tsunamis in the European-Mediterranean zone;
- Analyzing the current seismic and tide gauge observation and data-processing systems, as well as identifying the necessary adjustments for setting up an effective tsunami warning system;
- Improving tsunami modeling, for it to better take into account the propagation and coastal impact of tsunamis.
In addition, seven geographical zones have been chosen for the application of tsunami scenarios: inundation maps will be created and warning and prevention plans established.
The NEAREST (Integrated observations from NEAR shore sourcES of Tsunamis) project has a budget of €2.8 million and groups together 11 partners. Its objective is to identify and characterize those sources liable to generate local tsunamis in the Gulf of Cadiz. An underwater observatory equipped with seismic and pressure sensors will be installed and serve as a prototype for a tsunami warning system. New simulations will be carried out in the Algarve zone, which was strongly affected by the tsunami of 1755 and new inundation maps will be drawn up.
Likewise, the objective of the SEAHELLARC (Seismic risk Assessment and mitigation scenarios in the western HELLenic ARC) 31 ( * ) project is to set up a network of land and sea-based sensors to better observe the seismicity of the Hellenic Arc and any eventual tsunamis. The zone's bathymetry will be precisely mapped, in order to identify the area's faults and those zones where landslides are liable to occur. The objective is to identify all tsunami sources. In addition, a study on tsunami vulnerability will be carried out on the town of Pylos, which will serve as a base for setting up a tsunami prevention and warning plan.
Furthermore, other projects financed by the European Commission indirectly contribute toward the setting up of an effective tsunami warning system.
For example, the objective of the SAFER 32 ( * ) project is to develop civil-protection tools to allow for an earlier warning, above all in densely populated areas. In particular, this project seeks to create new algorithms for the rapid localization of earthquakes and characterization of faults. In addition, new tools will be developed for the real-time creation of warning maps, as well as simulations of damages caused by the earthquake.
Earthquakes that occur in the European-Mediterranean region are currently recorded by 100 different observation systems managed by 46 countries. The objective of the NERIES (Network of Earthquake Research Institutes for Earthquake Seismology) project is to bring all of these monitoring systems together into a single network, to improve data access, and to harmonize data distribution and storage.
Moreover, the ESONET (European Seas Observatory Network of Excellence) project proposes laying the groundwork for a marine component of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme, consisting of a network of permanent, multi-disciplinary observatories installed on the sea floor in key zones on the European continental margins and allowing for continuous geophysical, biochemical, oceanographic and biological monitoring. ESONET will pay particular attention to the oceanic margins beyond the limit of the continental shelf and down to depths of 4,000 metres: this zone is not nearly as well known as the continental shelf itself and is not covered by the current systems for gathering oceanic data. The European continental margins extend for some 15,000 km, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, covering a surface area of nearly 3 million km². The EMSO ( European Multidisciplinary Seas Observation ) project is responsible for installing the observatories on the sea floor. 5 sites (each of which has its own specific research theme) have been identified. The Liguria Sea site has the authority to attach its measuring devices to the ANTARES 33 ( * ) project cable; this observatory will study the geophysical risks near densely populated zones and test devices either installed on the seafloor or used for core sampling.
Finally, the 6 th Research Framework Programme has provided €4 million to the DEWS (Distant Early Warning System) project, supported by the Information Society and Media Directorate-General of the European Commission. Its objective is to complement the warning system currently being set up by the Germans in Indonesia 34 ( * ) , by using information technology to increase the performance of the sensor networks, decrease the warning messages' transmission times, and improve cooperation not only between countries, but also between the concerned authorities.
* 31 This project enjoys €1.3 million in funding and gathers together 7 partners.
* 32 This project enjoys €3.6 million in funding and gathers together 29 partners.
* 33 The objective of the Antares project is to detect and study very high-energy cosmic neutrinos in the Mediterranean. Cosmic neutrinos are elementary particles that pass almost undisturbed through matter and can therefore travel great distances in the Universe without being absorbed by the interplanetary mediums. Used in addition to electromagnetic radiation, they represent an exceptional means of studying distant corners of the universe. They can also provide us with indirect information on the nature of the universe's hidden mass. Due to their very weak interactivity with matter, very large detectors isolated from cosmic radiation must be used. Indeed, cosmic rays are constantly bombarding the Earth's surface, creating significant background noise. For this reason, the sea floor, which is naturally protected from such radiation by its depth, represents an ideal environment for the detection of neutrinos. In the Antares experiment, a thousand photodetectors are immerged at a depth of 2,400 m in the Mediterranean on a site located south of the island of Porquerolles (the Var département) chosen for the quality of its water. These sensitive photodetectors directed towards the ground will capture the light emitted by the neutrino products that have passed through the Earth and interact with it near the sea bottom. This arrangement will allow the detectors to study the southern hemispheric sky, which includes the centre of the galaxy, the location of several phenomena of intense energy. These large systems can therefore be considered "neutrino telescopes".
* 34 Following the tsunami of 26 December 2004, Germany very quickly manifested a desire to come to the aid of those countries devastated by the tsunami and on 13 January 2005 decided to set up the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS). This project, directed by the Ministry of Education and Research and allocated €45 million in funding, should allow for rapid, reliable warnings; it relies on a network of earth observations (seismic and geodesic sensors), sea observations (tide gauges and sea-based pressure sensors), a precise bathymetry of the regions to be protected, computer simulations and a warning centre in charge of receiving and processing the data and, if need be, issuing warnings. This regional tsunami warning centre is supposed to integrate the warning system for the Indian Ocean managed by the IOC. The German engineers have developed a computer program capable of determining the location, magnitude and depth of a strong earthquake within 4 minutes of its first manifestation.