Washington: International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the International Ice Patrol (IIP) is planning to launch a new generation of public good satellites to monitor icebergs in Arctic in an effort to prevent another Titanic disaster.
A century ago, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg while crossing the North Atlantic and sank at the cost of over 1500 passengers and crew.
Today, thousands of boats cross the same iceberg-ridden path with no loss of life, thanks to satellites.
One of the most important legacies of the Titanic disaster was the establishment of IIP. The role of the IIP today is to monitor icebergs and establish an iceberg danger area based on observations that are being fed into drift and melt models.
At any time, there may be tens to hundreds of thousands of icebergs in Arctic waters. The Ice Patrol's challenge is to determine the number of icebergs that will drift south towards shipping lanes in the North Atlantic between Europe and the major ports of the United States and Canada.
To date, no vessel that has heeded the Ice Patrol's published 'iceberg limit' has collided with an iceberg.
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The IIP first used marine vessels to perform routine ice patrols, but switched to aerial surveillance after World War II. Today, aerial surveillance is the primary ice reconnaissance method, but IIP aims to replace expensive ice flights, and has been looking to satellite observations as the successor technology.
A century ago, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg while crossing the North Atlantic and sank at the cost of over 1500 passengers and crew.
Today, thousands of boats cross the same iceberg-ridden path with no loss of life, thanks to satellites.
One of the most important legacies of the Titanic disaster was the establishment of IIP. The role of the IIP today is to monitor icebergs and establish an iceberg danger area based on observations that are being fed into drift and melt models.
At any time, there may be tens to hundreds of thousands of icebergs in Arctic waters. The Ice Patrol's challenge is to determine the number of icebergs that will drift south towards shipping lanes in the North Atlantic between Europe and the major ports of the United States and Canada.
To date, no vessel that has heeded the Ice Patrol's published 'iceberg limit' has collided with an iceberg.
[TABLE="align: right"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The IIP first used marine vessels to perform routine ice patrols, but switched to aerial surveillance after World War II. Today, aerial surveillance is the primary ice reconnaissance method, but IIP aims to replace expensive ice flights, and has been looking to satellite observations as the successor technology.