During the first days of April 2020 an important technological upgrade occurred in data transmission from ISPRA's Mareographic Network Stations to the INGV's Tsunami Alert Centre.
The warning system for tsunamis of seismic origin foresees the sending, within a few minutes after the earthquake, of an alert message from the CAT-INGV to the Civil Protection that immediately spreads it to the local authorities and to the territorial civil protection system.
The confirmation of a possible tsunami can only take place from the observation of the ISPRA's Mareographic Stations and other networks presents in the Mediterranean Sea. The faster the confirmation, the more effective the risk mitigation measures will be.
After a test period of several years, the transmission technique now activated reduces the transmission time from a few minutes to a few seconds, thus making the whole tsunami warning system faster and more efficient.
FAST is the new data transmission system that allows the CAT-INGV to measure sea level variations on all national coasts in real time, for immediate monitoring of possible tsunamis that could hit the Italian coast and other Mediterranean countries.
This improvement represents a further advancement of the alert system, which is in continuous development thanks to the close collaboration between DPC, ISPRA and INGV.