Stormy Seas Monitored From Space

MICROSAT BLITZ

Over the last three days Sea State Alarm has measured significant wave heights of more than 10 metres (30 feet) high in an area 450 km wide. Warnings are sent directly to customers and maps are published daily on the SOS website.

Guildford - October 2, 2000
The seas should be a safer place for ships once a new satellite system is launched to measure constantly the height of waves. A new generation of micro-satellites will reduce uncertainty about the position and location of storms by directly measuring waves from space.

It was reported today (29/9/2000) that the cruise liner Oriana was hit by a 40 foot wave which shattered windows, and injured passengers. Interviewed on the Five Live radio programme, a P&O spokesman said it was a "freak wave" that came out of nowhere.

A British company, Satellite Observing Systems Ltd., expert in monitoring storms from space, has monitored a large area of rough seas moving steadily across the Atlantic over the last three days. SOS operates the Sea State Alarm, which uses satellite radar to accurately measure the waves 800km below.

SOS has teamed with world-leading builders of small satellites, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., to design and build a storm monitoring micro-satellite constellation called GANDER, which will tell ships at sea exactly what conditions lie ahead.

SOS General Manager, Paul Stephens said

"Ships can be caught out by severe weather because they lack accurate information, or because of an error of judgement. Meteorological computer models have difficulty predicting small violent storms because there is so little data collected at sea.

Satellites are the best way of monitoring wide expanses of ocean, but until now it has been too expensive to create an operational safety system. At last, micro-satellites are cheap enough to launch a commercially viable storm monitoring system. GANDER's accurate wave information will give ships much more chance to avoid trouble. "

Additional Notes

Marine scientists know that every three hours there is a strong possibility of meeting waves almost double the significant wave height. In an area of waves more than 10 metres high the Oriana was lucky not to encounter a 20 metre (60 foot) high monster!

Extreme weather is recorded by Lloyds as the cause of 36% of marine losses, which total $2.6 billion or more every year, even before accounting for the thousands of deaths at sea, wasted fuel, loss of earnings (such as refunds to cruise passengers) and extra repairs and maintenance.

With 95% of world-trade carried by sea, and traffic forecast to double to 12 billion tonnes over the next twenty years, there are concerns about increasing storminess of the oceans. SOS has identified a significant increase in wave heights in the North Atlantic since the 1960s.

The significant wave height is determined by analysing radar reflections from the sea surface below the ERS-2 satellite, as it races round the world at 7km per second.

Microsats offer real value for money. GANDER will cost less than 2% of the cost of the European Commission's ENVISAT research satellite, into which Britain has paid �350 million.

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MICROSAT BLITZ

AeroAstro Wins Award For Micro Transponders

Herndon - October 2, 2000
AeroAstro, Inc., the world's premier small satellite technology company, today announced it has received the Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration for its design of miniature X-band transponders for small satellites. The recognition was given for AeroAstro's work under a grant by the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR).

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