A Pacific tsunami warning exercise 3/23/2011 part of NLE11 insanity

[carlee]

http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/pdf/PACIFEX11Final.pdf

3.1 General
The scenario will start with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake located 95 miles west of Eugene, Oregon at 44.2ºN, 125.0ºW. A large tsunami with vertical runups exceeding 5.0 meters near the source zone occurs along U.S. and Canadian Pacific coasts. The earthquake occurs at 1800 UTC on March 23, 2011. The tsunami inundates extensive sections of land in the epicentral region and also significantly impacts other U.S. and Canadian coasts in the Pacific. This is a realistic scenario for a major Cascadian earthquake which is discussed in greater detail in Appendix B.
The TWCs will not issue live messages during the exercise other than to issue an initial “dummy” message over standard communication routes to start the exercise at 1805 UTC on March 23, 2011. The content of the dummy messages is given in Appendix C. The dummy message will indicate that exercise participants should refer to the first message provided in this handbook. From then on, participants should follow the schedule in Table 1 to look at new messages. Table 1 is the timeline for when messages would be issued by the TWCs if this were a real event and should be used by EMOs to drive the exercise timing. The warning messages (as shown in Appendix D) cover a 7 1/2-hour period, though in an actual event they would likely continue longer. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) headers used in the dummy message are listed in Table 2.

[carlee]

3.3 Actions in Case of a Real Event
In the case of a real event occurring during the exercise, TWCs will issue their normal message products for the event. Such messages will be given full priority and a decision will be made by the Centers whether to issue the dummy message and to continue providing telephone support for the exercise. Smaller earthquakes that only trigger a Tsunami Information Statement will not disrupt the exercise. All documentation and correspondence relating to this exercise is to be clearly identified as “PACIFEX 11” and “Exercise.”

[Dig]

Hey look, the government always has money to scare the living shit out of an entire coastal region of a continent!

[carlee]

Hey look, the government always has money to scare the living shit out of an entire coastal region of a continent!

     but they have no money to fix the roads 

[RemixNinja]

The earthquake occurs at 1800 UTC on March 23, 2011.

1800 UTC is 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific, correct? I don't really know all that UTC stuff, but trying to learn it.

[stymo1]

1800 UTC is 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific, correct? I don't really know all that UTC stuff, but trying to learn it.

Time Conversion Chart:
http://www.scc-ares-races.org/utcchart.html