A team of researchers from the University of Warmia and Mazury (UWM) in Olsztyn and research centers in Spain, Germany and Greece are looking for a way to detect tsunami early.

The team of researchers Dr Eng. Wojciech Jarmołowski, Dr Eng. Paweł Wielgosz, prof. UWM, Dr Eng. Anna Krypiak-Gregorczyk and Tomasz Sidorowicz, IT specialist are investigating the impact of the tsunami on the ionosphere. Soon, 2 more students will join the team.

UWM is the leader of a scientific consortium that has received a grant from the European Space Agency (ESA) for this research. The consortium also includes scientists from the Barcelona University of Technology, the Technical University of Munich and the National Observatory in Athens. The initial research grant is 160,000 euro, of what UWM is receiving 45 thousand euro. The project implementation period is 16 months.

– Tsunami, although it is a surface phenomenon, is very extensive and also causes waves in the atmosphere. These waves reach the ionosphere, up to several hundred kilometers high. We want to find out why the tsunami causes noticeable changes in the ionosphere, what is the scale of these disorders, what mechanisms govern it and ultimately find an effective way to detect tsunami based on the observation of the ionosphere – explains Prof. Wielgosz.