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NOAA cuts back on seismic data used for West Coast tsunami alerts

November 12, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ended a contract with the Alaska Earthquake Center that helped maintain some seismic stations and transmit data in real time.

Alaska state seismologist and director of the center, Michael West, warned that the termination of this contract, which is around two decades old, will lead to less timely and accurate tsunami warnings that could affect Alaska, Hawaii and the West Coast.

It’s unclear why NOAA chose to terminate the contract, worth around $300,000 annually. David Snider, a tsunami warning coordinator with NOAA’s National Tsunami Warning Center, declined to comment, deferring to NOAA public affairs, which did not respond to request for comment.

Every time an earthquake happens, NOAA’s Tsunami Warning Centers determine whether to issue a tsunami alert within five minutes. Depending on where the earthquake originated, coastal communities could have anywhere from 20 minutes to six hours to evacuate or prepare for a tsunami.

Read the full article at The Columbian

ALASKA: NOAA cancels funding for data collection crucial to tsunami warning systems

November 3, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is halting a contract that makes it possible for the federal agency to accurately monitor for potential tsunamis in Alaska – and quickly warn at-risk communities.

The Alaska Earthquake Center for decades has collected data from seismology stations across the state and directly fed the information to NOAA’s National Tsunami Center, in Palmer. If the data indicates an earthquake that could lead to a tsunami, the Tsunami Center sends out a warning message within minutes.

Or at least that’s how it worked historically, including on Thursday morning, when an earthquake struck between Seward and Homer.

But that’s about to change. In late September, the federal agency advised the Alaska Earthquake Center that it does not have funding available for that work.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

7.5-magnitude “shaker” prompts tsunami warning from Aleutians to Kenai Peninsula

October 20, 2020 — Residents of coastal Alaska, from Sand Point to Kodiak, scrambled for higher ground and motored boats into deeper water Monday afternoon after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit near Sand Point and triggered a tsunami warning.

Large waves did not appear, but life in the communities was disrupted by the emergency.

Residents from Unalaska to the Kenai Peninsula reported to the USGS that they’d felt the earthquake. The National Weather Service downgraded the warning to an advisory toward the end of the afternoon.

Raynelle Gardner, who works at the Sand Point School, said residents felt the violent shaking of the first quake. She hadn’t felt any aftershocks because she had been driving, but as she spoke on the phone, she watched the Alaska Earthquake Center website as it ticked off one that rippled through the area.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media