Ocean Pulse

by By Brian Foley | March 18, 2015

How would you describe the heartbeat of the ocean? For Chris Ray, the answer lies on the surface of the waves.

Ray, a physics professor who also directs the engineering program, is part of a team of researchers who depend on satellite data to measure the “pulse” of the sea. The data that pours in looks like data on a heart monitor. Ray develops mathematical formulas that decipher these incoming pulses to more accurately measure the ocean’s waves, currents and level—potentially opening a new way of studying tsunamis and climate change.

So how does Ray keep his finger on the pulse? “You need a mathematical model to decode the pulses the satellite receives,” he said. “The model tells us how the shape of the pulse would change if, for example, the waves get taller.”

Working with a firm in Barcelona contracted through the European Space Agency (Europe’s NASA), Ray’s team has proposed a new way to measure the sea’s heartbeat with five times the accuracy of what scientists rely on today.

Such measurements have the potential to save entire populations. Satellites that hover 700 kilometers above the ocean could relay sudden movements in the sea and hint at when a tsunami is brewing. Shortly after the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands, scientists realized a satellite that had orbited over the event as it unfolded detected the ripple as it raced across the open sea.

“When scientists analyzed the data collected by the satellite, they discovered that it would have been possible to detect the tsunami an hour before it reached the coast,” Ray said. “Tsunamis are inherently hard to detect. In time, satellite technology could make it easier to catch them.”

Ray’s team presented its research to the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Satellites in Germany. Meanwhile, as the researcher’s work is being reviewed, the European Space Agency is preparing to launch Sentinel-6, a new crop of satellites capable of pinpointing the ocean’s elevation or heartbeat to within a centimeter, about the width of a fingernail.