Satellites can prevent another Titanic
17 April 2012
One hundred years ago, on 15 April 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank while crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, causing the deaths of over 1500 passengers and crew. Today, thousands of boats cross the same path with no loss of life – and satellites are helping.
Frederick Fleet had the task of being the lookout on the Titanic during the night of 14 April 1912. The ice information provided by Frederick was the only intelligence that Captain Edward John Smith had for navigating the ship through these dangerous waters.
One of the most important legacies of the Titanic disaster was the improvement of maritime safety, with the establishment of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the International Ice Patrol (IIP).
The role of the Ice Patrol is to monitor icebers and establish an iceberg danger area. At any time, there may be thousands of icebergs in the Arctic waters. The Ice Patrol’s challenge is to determine the number of icebergs that will drift south towards shipping lanes. To date, no ship following the Ice Patrol’s published ‘iceberg limit’ has collided with an iceberg!
World’s busiest ice-covered sea
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At first, the Ice Patrol used marine vessels to perform routine ice patrols, but switched to aerial surveillance after World War II. Today, aerial surveillance is the primary method used, but IIP aims to replace the expensive ice flights with satellite observations.
Today, the Ice Patrol uses satellite-based radar observations to supplement aerial ones. Radars on satellites are great for iceberg monitoring because they are able to acquire images through clouds and darkness.
Sentinel-1, due for launch in 2013, will dramatically increase the availability of radar data, and help the Ice Patrol avoid disasters like the century-old Titanic.
