To the EAHC members who suffered
serious damage by the earthquake and the tsunami.
We are feeling sad to hear the tragic
news which the
From the EAHC Permanent Secretariat
Tsunami
simulation
It is said that the subduction-zone
earthquakes will occur in the near future in
As the foci of these earthquakes are
located under sea bottoms of the Nankai Trough
extending to the south of Tokai district and the Kii
Peninsula, the central part of Japan, it is predicted by the Central Disaster
Management Council that the Pacific coasts of Japan are flooded by tsunamis
more than three meters high.
Therefore, the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan (JHOD)
carried on studies for simulation and expression method of information in order
to comprehend the flows of tsunamis, and developed the method of producing the
tsunami simulation and tsunami information maps which included whole
information concerning tsunamis in the sea areas. In order to minimize the tsunami
disaster, preparedness and timely warnings are essential. Tsunami simulation will provide the
basis for developing these measures.
・Tsunami simulation enables to indicate the
estimated wave heights at each coast, to be used to develop the evacuation
programs, and the estimated time of arrival of tsunamis once it emerged, to be
used for the evacuation warnings.
Tsunami information based on tsunami
simulation technology are composed of tsunami information maps of printed
matter (two kinds of inflow map and outflow map) and tsunami animation which
displayed the situation of tsunamis which changes momentarily by the animation.
Example of tsunami simulation at sea
areas for select Japanese harbors can be found in the JHOD website. (URL http://www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/KAIYO/tsunami-E/index.html)
To make the tsunami simulation reliable,
detailed and precise bathymetric data are crucial.
・Dense and accurate bathymetric data at the
open ocean are essential to know when and where the tsunami arrives.
・Near-shore bathymetry plays a crucial role in
the landing height of the tsunami.
For the precise and reliable tsunami simulation, bathymetric data of
50-meter grid or finer resolution are effective. Bathymetric data of this resolution need
intensive swath surveys.
Airborne Laser
Survey "Measuring the Sea with Light"
1. What is an Airborne Laser
Survey?
A method was invented to measure depth
by radiating a laser beams from an aircraft to the bottom of the sea and
measuring the time it takes for the lights to come back. This made it possible to obtain depth
data 1000 times more efficiently than the conventional method using survey
vessels. In this method called
airborne laser survey, an aircraft flies at an altitude of 400 meters and the
airborne laser sounder (
In the airborne laser survey conducted
by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan (JHOD), it is now
possible to measure up to 38 meters in depth for the Pacific side of
2. Data obtainable through Airborne
Laser Survey
Because the survey data obtained through
the airborne laser survey are of high density with intervals of 5 meters, it
can be displayed in a three-dimensional image. In addition, by using GPS to accurately
measure the altitude of the aircraft, it is also possible to measure the depth
and land's altitude above sea level.
Thus, the data of height sequential from
land to sea will be available.
Using this data, it is possible to describe submarine topography as can
be seen in following the three-dimensional image. Therefore, using an airborne laser survey,
it is now possible to obtain the data of height sequentially from land to sea.
3. Endeavors for Airborne Laser
Survey
SHOALS is equipped and being operated on
a medium aircraft (Beech 350) at Hiroshima Air Station. Survey for very shallow waters near
coasts of
By using the data of depth obtained from
the airborne laser survey, we are going to further improve the safety of
vessels navigating through coastal waters, as well as to provide information on
topography near the coastal area, sequential from land and sea, to those who
need them for marine leisure and ocean development. Furthermore, the airborne laser survey
is expected to contribute to providing information to prevent disasters such as
tsunami, as well as to be utilized for the geographic information system (GIS).
NEW DIRECTOR
GENERAL
OF
Vice Admiral Saneh
Soontonmongkol was appointed as the Director General
of the Hydrographic Department, Royal Thai Navy (HDRTN) as successor to Vice
Admiral Suchart Yanothai on
With Thirty-two years in the Navy, Vice
Admiral Saneh has served various post ashore and
onboard ships. He served as
the Deputy Director General (1) before being appointed to the present
position. Vice Admiral Saneh was also one of the pioneers in setting up the
Electronic Navigation Chart Project of the HDRTN.
The
Contributed by
The South China Sea (SCS) is covered
with paper charts produced by littoral Member States (MS) of the EAHC as well
as by some countries outside the region.
MSs of the EAHC have produced large scale ENCs covering their own waters, particularly their major
ports. However, official small scale ENCs are not yet available.
The IHO WEND Committee held its 8th
meeting in March 2004 and passed a resolution urging "Regional
Hydrographic Commissions should develop, where not yet existent, ENC production
schemes and time schedules for the ENC production for small scale coverage and prioritised routes and ports, and should report the details
to IHB as soon as possible."
In July 2004, the EAHC held a meeting in
1) SCS ENCs
are used for safety of navigation and research purposes;
2) copyright
of the SCS ENCs rests with the EAHC; and
3) SCS ENCs will
be available to all the MSs of the EAHC, countries in
the region and users at no charge.
It is not for commercial use unless permitted by the EAHC.
A tight schedule was fixed for the SET
to accomplish the tasks of :- production, quality
check, conducting sea trial and lining up the updating mechanism. The SET would report the progress and
submit recommendations to the EAHC in the February 2005 Extraordinary
Conference. Subject to EAHC’s approval, the SCS ENCs can then be launched officially.
Despite the participation in the SET was
voluntary, all MSs had sent representatives to join
the task group and every member actively took part in the project. The SET met in
Some shipping lines with vessels
equipped with ECDIS and trading to ports in the region had joined the sea
trial. These vessels had been very
cooperative and came back with very encouraging feedbacks after they had used
the SCS ENCs for passage planning as well as for navigation. The SET continued to check the quality
of the SCS ENCs and to update the ENCs
with Notices to Mariners (NTMs) issued by the MSs. By the
time this article is published, the SET should have held the third meeting
prior to the EAHC Extraordinary Conference.
The SET targeted to launch the final
version of the SCS ENCs in March 2005. The ENCs can
be distributed by a variety of channels, such as download from MS's
websites. The SCS ENCs should be updated on a continuous basis after they
have been released. In order to
keep the SCS ENCs up-to-date, a systematic means of
collecting NTMs from MSs
and transform the chart corrections into updating files would be introduced.
JICA Country Focused Training
Course on Operator of ENCs Updating for the Republic
of the
The JICA Country Focused Training Course
on Operator of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs)
for the Republic of the Philippines of Japanese financial year (JFY) 2004 was
carried out at the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan (JHOD) in
This course aimed at mastering each
technique of evaluation, selection, file-creation and proofreading about latest
maintenance data on ENC.
Arrangements for conducting the course
was administrated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and
supported by Japan Hydrographic Association (JHA).
Three persons of Mr. Alberto Bernardo
STA. ANA, Mr. Darwin Villanueva Lagdaan and Mr. Marvin
Caleon Espino, from the
Coast and Geodetic Surveys Department (CGSD) of the National Mapping and
Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) in the
JICA Group
Training Course on Hydrographic Survey for 2004 Closed
Ten trainees (see page 10 of EAHC
Newsletter No.45) who had received "JICA Group Training Course on
Hydrographic Survey 2 (Internationally Accredited Category B Course) for
2004" at the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan (JHOD) in
Tokyo finished all the training schedules for about seven months, and closed
the course. The closing ceremony of
the course took place at the JICA's Tokyo
International Center (TIC) on December 10, 2004, attended Dr. Kunio Yashima, Director General
of JHOD, Mr. Nobuaki Miyata, Social Development Team Director of TIC, and Dr.
Yoshio Kubo, Counselor of Japan Hydrographic Association, as well as lecturers,
instructors, and related officers of JHOD and JICA.
Each trainee from
Finally, Mr. Muhammad Ali of
Voice of the Participants JICA
Group Training Course on Hydrographic Survey for 2004
APPRECIATION
I am very grateful at this golden chance
to express my impression about my stay here in
For the time I have been here I have
learn a lot of things. First I was
so impressed by the good welcome accorded to me right from the airport to our
Hostel TIC. During our orientation
I learned a lot about
Let me now move to pass my heart felt
gratitude to the following people who devoted all their time and energies to
make sure, that we get the best.
Tozawa san, Nakanishi san, Yoshida san, Niimura san and last but not lest I would like to
thank Coordinator Abe san who, and is always a head of everything we
do. God bless you all. The knowledge, which I have acquired
here, will go a long way in improving the welfare of my countrymen and the
world at large by providing accurate and reliable nautical charts.
To my fellow colleagues who acted as
ambassadors of their countries our stay together has been a warm and wonderful
one. Let me mention each of you by
name Salomon (Malaysia), John (Philippines), Gowraj
(Mauritius), Khaled (Egypt), Rahman (Bangladesh), Ali (Pakistan), Jayasooriya (Sri Lanka), Agus
(Indonesia), and Xu (China) God bless
all of you.
I also thank the Japanese government for
being the light at end of the tunnel; we are following your steps. Thanks goes also to the staff of
Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department, continue with the same spirit. To all those I have not mentioned their
names I say a big thank you. I may
not be present in Body but present in spirit and thought.
Sayonara
Yours
Joseph kipkosgei Rotich
SALOMON ANAK KUAS (
First and foremost, I would like to give
praise and thanks to God for His great goodness and His mercifulness, which
brought me here safely. This is the
first time I came to
THANK YOU.
"SAYONARA… JA
MATA."
During my
Training course
Mission of ”We
as abridge between the people of Japan and developing countries, will advance
international cooperation through the sharing of knowledge and experience and
will work to build a more peaceful and prosperous world” at
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and in Hydrographic and
Oceanographic survey modern theory, technique and experiences of resources
available and employed at the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of
Japan (JHOD) connecting and sharing promote at the Group training course in
hydrographic survey II Internationally accredited category B course of nautical
chart production. Every year
participants from developing countries follow this course. Current year I participated from,
mission of “the principal national institute charged with
the responsibility of carrying out and coordinating research, development and
management activities on the subject of aquatic resources” at the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development
Agency (NARA) in Sri Lanka.
Hydrographic survey and nautical charts is one of the most important
subjects for the developing world not only for safe navigation but also for
important to developments such as ocean research, investigation, engineering,
management and exploration purposes.
The period from 05th May to
Field training and observations, enabled
me to practice what I had learnt during the lectures and also to understand
them better and the Study tours were very interesting to us. Because, we were able to visit and
discover many developed places scientific, environment, beautiful, Japanese
culture history and religion among visited at Shimoda
onboard survey, harbour and beautiful beach at Tateyama onboard at North Pacific sea, beach, harbour and Odaiba, at Tsukuba
observed the Geological survey of Japan, Geological Survey institute observed
the map and survey museum, Tsukuba Expo centre, at Hiroshima Harbour coastline survey, Miyajima
cultural and religion, A-bomb museum Hiroshima and Hiroshima Castle, At Sendai
observation the Zao Nikon survey instruments
manufacturing company, and Research centre for Prediction of Earthquake and
Volcanic Eruption, At observation the Kyowa Shoko tide observer instrument
manufacturing company, We observed the Ocean survey equipment manufacture Toyo
Corporation, Tokyo bay Traffic advisory service office tours improved our
knowledge in developing modern equipments and manufacturing system, research
and observation system, preservation and displaying system. Also these activities helped us to avoid
our sickness and tiredness.
During my training period mainly
accommodation was provided by the Tokyo International centre under Japan
International Cooperation Agency at
Priyantha Jayasooriya