See How NASA’s GUARDIAN Tsunami Detection System Works

On July 29, 2025, when a magnitude 8.8 earthquake near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula generated a tsunami, NASA used a new experimental system to detect it 32 minutes earlier than existing systems. Here’s how it works: When a tsunami moves through the ocean, it displaces a massive amount of water across hundreds of square miles — nearly all at once. That displacement doesn’t just move sideways. It pushes energy upward, sending invisible sound and gravity waves all the way into the upper atmosphere. Up there, those waves disturb the ionosphere — the layer of the atmosphere that satellite navigation signals pass through on their way down to Earth. GUARDIAN watches for those tiny disturbances across a network of more than 350 existing ground stations worldwide and uses them as an early warning signal. GUARDIAN isn’t designed to replace the warning systems we already have — it’s designed to make them faster and more complete. The data is intended to be open and accessible to emergency managers around the world, because when a wave is coming, every minute matters. Universal Music Production: “Something’s Afoot Instrumental” Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Kathleen Greer (NASA GSFC AMA): Lead Producer Alex Kekesi (ADNET): Lead Visualizer Camille Martire (NASA JPL): Lead Scientist Panagiotis Vergados (NASA JPL): Scientist Attila Komjathy (NASA JPL): Scientist Siddharth Krishnamoorthy (NASA JPL): Scientist This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14986. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/. If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard · X: http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NA · Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc