With nearly 230,000 fatalities, the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was the deadliest tsunami in history, illustrating the importance of developing basin-wide warning systems. Key to creating these systems is easy access to quality-controlled, verified data on past tsunamis: Warning centers, emergency managers, and modelers need to know if and when similar events have occurred.

Following the 2004 tsunami, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) began examining all aspects of the tsunami data archive to help answer questions regarding the frequency and severity of past tsunamis. Historical databases span insufficient time to reveal a region's full tsunami hazard, so a global database of citations to articles on tsunami deposits was added to the archive. NGDC further expanded the archive to include high-resolution tide gauge data, deep-ocean sensor data, and digital elevation models used for propagation and inundation. NGDC continuously reviews data for accuracy, making modifications as new information is obtained.