Satellites guide world's top yachts through Southern Ocean 'iceberg alley'



 
AP CAPTION - The catamaran Daedalus, skippered by Britain's Tony Bullimore, right, runs alongside the catamaran Doha 2006 skippered by fellow countryman Brian Thompson after the start of the Oryx Quest 2005 round-the-globe yachting race in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005.

Iceberg
 
This large iceberg was found drifting out of the Southern Ocean, photographed 300 km away from Mar del Plata in 2002. Specialists said the iceberg, some 700 meters long, was an unusual find during the springtime in the southern hemisphere.

Icebergs on radar
 
This Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) Wide Swath Mode image acquired by C-CORE for the Oryx Quest race shows a cluster of iceberg targets. Iceberg monitoring is a service provided by the Northern View as part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Services Element, expanded to the Southern Ocean for the first time to ensure racer safety.

Ice island on radar
 
This example of Envisat ASAR Wide Swath Mode imagery acquired by C-CORE for the Oryx Quest race shows a very large ice island, a very large piece of floating ice showing just a few metres above the sea surface. The striping is an artefact of Wide Swath Mode.

Offloading
 
This detail from a Radarsat image of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland shows cargo offloading at the Terra Nova Platform. The Northern View's iceberg monitoring service is normally used by Canadian shipping and offshore industries.


 
ESA's ten-instrument Envisat environmental satellite has been observing the Earth for more than three years. Picture by EADS Astrium.



Release date: 22 February 2008