NOAA SATELLITES HELP RESCUE BOATERS IN DISTRESS

March 12, 2004 — Ten people were pulled to safety Tuesday after their boat capsized near Manele Bay, an area close to Lanai, Hawaii. The dramatic rescue was triggered after a crew member aboard the vessel, Paragon I, activated an emergency beacon at 2:15 p.m. local time—15 minutes into the trip. NOAA satellites picked up the distress signal and relayed the information to the U.S. Mission Control Center in Suitland, Md., which alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. (Click NOAA image for larger view of Cospas-Sarsat system overview.)

A driving rainstorm and gusting winds hampered attempts to find the 47-foot catamaran, but a nearby fishing boat, Kekai, responding to the distress call, rescued the eight passengers and two crew members, who were hanging onto the hull in the rocking waters. No serious injuries were reported.

The rescue was engineered by the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System (COSPAS-SARSAT). Since SARSAT (the U.S. component to the international system) became operational in 1982, almost 17,000 lives have been saved worldwide, including more than 4,600 in the United States.

The SARSAT system uses the NOAA polar-orbiting and geostationary-orbiting satellites to detect and locate registered owners of Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRBs), Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) in distress. Hikers and campers use PLBs, which are designed for land use, EPIRBS are used on board boats and ships, while ELTs are carried aboard aircraft.

Once the satellites pick up a distress signal, it is relayed to U.S. Mission Control Center. After pinpointing the location of the distress, the signal is routed to a Rescue Coordination Center operated by the Coast Guard or the Air Force. In the United States, the Coast Guard has responsibility for all maritime distresses, and the Air Force handles all inland search and rescue cases.

“The mult-agency SARSAT program functioned just as it was intended. It saved lives when they were in danger. It’s always a triumph when a search has a happy ending,” said Gregory W. Withee, assistant administrator of the NOAA Satellites and Information Service, the lead U.S. agency for SARSAT.

Since January 1, 2004, a new law in Hawaii requires all vessels operating beyond one mile of the state’s shorelines to be equipped with a functioning marine radio, or 406 megahertz EPIRB.

“The Paragon I was two miles off-shore and had an EPIRB; this is exactly the type of situation the law was designed to address and allowed SARSAT do its job,” said Ajay Mehta, the NOAA SARSAT program manager.

The NOAA Satellites and Information Service is the nation’s primary source of space-based meteorological and climate data. It operates America’s environmental satellites, which are used for weather and ocean observation, forecasting and climate monitoring.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA’s Role in the Cospas-Sarsat Program

NOAA Satellites and Information

Personal Locator Beacons—Help From Above

International Cospas-Sarsat program

Media Contact:
John Leslie, NOAA Satellites and Information Service, (301) 457-5005