Archival and Discovery of May 22, 1960 Tsunami Event on Marigrams

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information have more than 3,000 tsunami marigram (tide gauge) records in both image and paper format. The majority of these tsunami marigram records were scanned to high-resolution digital tiff images during the NOAA Climate Data Modernization Program (CDMP). There still remain shelves full of deteriorating paper records that are in need of rescue reformatting to scanned images before they are lost. The 1946 tsunami is one of four 20th century tsunami events which are historically important but data during each reside only on the marigram records. The 1946 tsunami was the impetus for establishment of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center after impact to the Hawaiian Islands. The 1952, 1960, and 1964 tsunamis were each generated by three of the greatest of all recorded earthquakes. The 1960 tsunami, in particular, was generated by the largest earthquake ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5 off the central coast of Chile. Measurements of these tsunamis are expected to provide researchers with important information linking earthquake rupture to tsunami generation and propagation characteristics. All data reformatted as part of this project will be brought into compliance with NOAA Data Directives and meet the requirements for Data Management, Discoverability, Accessibility, Documentation, Readability, and Data Preservation and Stewardship as per the Big Earth Data Initiative (BEDI). BEDI is designed to promote interoperability of Earth observation data across Federal agencies, systems and platforms through the improvement of data management practices and increased discoverability, accessibility, and usability of data collections.