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NOAA Races With Volvo
From September 23, when eight competing yachts took off from Southhampton,
England, until June 9 when they anchor in Kiel, Germany, NOAA is with
them. Round-the-clock, over 32,5000 nautical miles, in four oceans and
10 ports, NOAA is on call to the Volvo Ocean Race. In the middle of the
ocean, many thousands of miles from land, this can mark the difference
between life and death.
Throughout the rigorous race each competing yacht will be protected by
SARSAT -- the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking program's U.S.
Mission Control Center in Suitland, Maryland. As part of the safety suite
of equipment, every yacht has an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon
aboard. This beacon can be activated to alert Mission Control of distress
in any kind of weather anywhere in the world.
The beginnings of SARSAT date back to 1970 when a plane carrying two U.S.
congressmen crashed in a remote region of Alaska. A massive search and
rescue effort was mounted, but to this day no trace of them or their aircraft
has ever been found. Because of this tragedy, Congress mandated that all
U.S. aircraft carry an Emergency Locator Transmitter designed to automatically
activate after a crash and transmit a homing signal.
SARSAT works like this: If a beacon is activated, Mission Control receives
the distress signal from a constellation of satellites orbiting Earth.
Because these NOAA earth-observing satellites carry SARSAT technology,
they can quickly pick up a vessel's position and other crucial information.
Mission Control then immediately alerts those search and rescue authorities
who can reach the site first. If an emergency strikes, Mission Control
will also alert Volvo race coordinators so they can dispatch other yachts
to the site. This added service helps to ensure the fastest possible response.
POES for longer-term forecasting
GOES for short-range warning and "nowcasting"
The National
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System merges Defense
Department and Commerce Department meteorological satellite systems into
a single national asset. NOAA's operational environmental satellites carry
search and rescue instruments and have helped save about 10,000 lives.
The system includes GOES (geostationary operational environmental satellites)
for short-range warning and "nowcasting," and POES (polar-orbiting environmental
satellites) for longer-term forecasting.
Duty controllers Michael Geiss and Christine Fenwick at Mission Control
Ajay Mehta is SARSAT program manager. Sam Baker is Mission Control chief.
Also key to the program are LTJG Daniel K. Karlson of NOAA Corps and SARSAT
division chief David Benner.
NOAA has joined the race in other ways, providing services related to
charting, marine weather forecasts, and navigation and ocean currant information.
For more about SARSAT, please check AccessNOAA's archives for the March
9, 2001 issue.
SARSAT web site: http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/
Race web site: http://www.volvooceanrace.org
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