Oregon Public Broadcasting

The advocacy group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is pressing federal leaders to fix holes in its tsunami warning system.

The group says it's passing along concerns from frustrated scientists within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

The agency's web site shows that buoys close to Oregon are working – but a number of buoys off Russia, for instance, are not.

The director of the public employees’ group, Jeff Ruch says those blind spots could be problems for the Northwest.

Jeff Ruch: “NOAA calls these buoys the cornerstone of the tsunami warning system, and if those buoys that are currently out remain out, then in the event of a tsunami-causing event, the West Coast of the United States would receive less warning than it otherwise would.”

The buoys off Russia would not affect response times for local tsunamis caused by a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, but they would help with tsunamis that start farther away.

NOAA officials say the buoys have two thorny problems: surface units are breaking free of their moorings, and sea-floor sensors that detect undersea tremors are having electronic failures.

Former Oregon State scientist, Jane Lubchenco is now the head of NOAA.

Online:

National Data Bouy Center