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Coast Guard to Track Ships Using Buoys
nomrniceguy writes "The Coast Guard plans to use dozens of buoys off the U.S. coast to extend the reach of a security system that monitors large vessels heading in and out of ports. The buoys are intended to extend the network's reach -- the Guard now receives the automated data only when a vessel is within about 25 miles of a port. The floating transmitters will relay the information from hundreds of miles off shore, from the middle of Lake Superior and off coastlines from Alaska to Maine."
Yeah, try Kuro5hin! It's this cool site filled with smart people discussing stuff. And no trolls, either! One day hanging out there and you'll throw in the /. towel for good! Sshhhh... keep it a secret, ok bud?
This is great. I use buoy data all the time as it provides sea surface temperatures/ dewpoint information and is useful in meteorology.
This information can be found here
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
That means nothing. Navies and paramilitary forces all over the world patrol well outside thier tradiational 3 and 12 mile limits, and they have for hundreds of years.
The Russians fly Tu-95 and Tu-142 Bears, the Chinese fly thier knock-off of the Badger, we fly the P-3 Orion, the Brits fly Canberra and Nimrod's. Trickles down to to the smallest nations with patrol aircraft.
For decades NATO had a series of active and passive sensor networks across the GIUK (Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom) gap to monitor Soviet shipping. There were similar arrays from Alaska to northern Japan.
Starting in 2000 all vessels over 300 tons were required to upgrade to Digital Selective Calling (DSC) radio equipment. This allows for better distress monitoring among other uses. At the same time all new marine VHF radio designs were required to be DSC enabled. There was a grandfather clause that allowed old designs to be produced until yesterday (Dec 31, 2004).
This means that when you go boating and (god forbid) something happens, very little knowhow is required to start an emergency response You just push a little button on your radio and your GPS coordinates are transmitted to all vessels around you, including the Coast Guard and all vessels over 300 tons.
You do need to register to obtain an MMSI number which will request your boat and personal information. This information is to be used in case of a Search and RESCUE which will hopefully not turn into a Search and RECOVERY. (the basic difference is if you need a medic or a coroner)
Yes there is a system that is similar using Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon or EPIRB
The use of weather monitoring buoys as transmition monitors is a logical step to help coordinate rescue efforts. Yes it is also "Big Brother" watching us. This does not mean that it will restrict the rights of how commerce occurs, and may even expedite trade by making customs less intense. The cargo will already be partially identified, so when the government officials show up they know what to expect.
As a final note, private not-for-hire vessels are not required to carry ANY electronic OR electrical devices by any government. Yes, running lights are required on most vessels at night, but oil lamps have worked for centuries.
Just my $.02
Phil
Laugh, it's good for you!
This information is already in the public domain because of a system known as AIS.
AIS consists of radio ID transponders which transmit the ID, status and destination of ocean going vessels.
A Google search will bring up much including sites which display the information graphically live for free.
Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
nukes detonated underground or underwater yield disapionting results. The Blast of a nuke isn't generated by converting a mass explosives to a superheated gas like conventional explosives are, but is the result of the surrounding medium absorbing and re-radiating the initial gamma ray burst. Gamma rays have a color-temperature of about 35*10^7 degrees, each re-radiation reduces the color-temperature, the point where the color-temp is down to about 1200 is called the fire-ball.
So while, Water and Earth simply don't have enough gammma tranperency to generate a decent fireball or blast by nuclear standards, you wouldn't want to be next to one either. My guess is to attempt to generate a nuclear tsunami, I'd air-burst about 400M above the water and try for a strike-slip wave tsunami by used the shockwave to depres the water surface rather than going under water and attempting to lift the water.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
1.The UN convention allows 200 miles EEZ. You are allowed to use some measures to enforce your rights within that if you have claimed that you will enforce the EEZ anyway. That is different from territorial waters.
2. Planning an attack on a coastal target by a vessel that is not registered to a country with which you are in a state of war can be easily fit into the definition of piracy without stretching it. That is sufficient grounds for any navy ship to request a stop and search of any civilian vessel regardless of either ship country of registration and the civilian vessel must comply even if outside territorial waters. Basically a suspected pirate (not a suspected terrorist) is a fair game anywhere anytime. The legal basis for this predates the UN (it goes back into the 19th century).
3. If they only follow the traffic they can put it even in international waters. In fact it becomes illegal only if it is in another country EEZ.
4. This is the first sane thing the US has done to do something about its own security. It is infinitely easier to put a Grad (or higher class) launcher on a ship and level a significant portion of Manhattan compared to hijacking a plane, doing a dirty bomb or any other lunatic plot.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
International waters start at varying distances, historically they were the range at which a shore battery could potentially hit a ship at sea, so the range of that battery then, usually set at 3 nautical miles. Between 1945 and 1982, various countries declared limits from 3 miles, all the way out to 200 miles.
The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was agreed in 1982 and set in force in 1994, and that limited full rights to 12 miles, and a further 24 miles for reasons of prevention of smuggling. At various points around the globe, territorial waters laws are overruled by various 'rights of passage', including military vessels, which are allowed to maintain stances in such areas that would be deemed illegal in normal territorial waters. Such zones include the Gibraltar Straits, where the territorial owner cannot bar transit access to a nation they are not at war with.
Exploration rights, or rights to exploit mineral deposits on teh sea bed, extend out to 200 miles for each coastal nation, and where these overlap, both nations have equal rights.
why deploy new ones?
Submerged detection equipment can't relay RF transponder codes - which is the whole point of this system. The SOSUS gear, though, is vital in helping the coastal defense folks in correlating the RF signatures and radar returns with expected/presented ship id info.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Not NEW buoys... Read the damn article. The systems in question are being installed on existing buoys. And SOSUS is not buoys, is still used, can and does track anything that puts sound in water (subs, ships, whales, etc.). The buoys in question, for the most part, are not sonar-buoys, but may have hydrophones. The USCG is more concerned with location of the existing buoys (useful for their purposes) and if they are capable of hosting the additional equipment. The buoys are floating platforms (some very large) that house weather stations, navigation equipment and so on. The system in the origianl article is more like a beacon IFF (Information Friend or Foe) like you might find on a radar. It doesn't track. It interrogates (asks the system on the ship to report it's information) and then forwards that information.
Ships without that device won't be allowed in ports, so the first thing terrorists do is to install such a device.
And no, they won't declare their nuke in the freight papers...
The same (non-)effect could be achieved practically for free using satellites, so IMHO this is another case of "Look how we spend your tax dollars to improve our security!".
The paranoia is terrorizing me.
The parent post is insightful! On 9/11, fewer than 4,000 people were killed. The tsunamis that hit this year have killed over 100,000. It shows just how impotent and insignificant the terrorists are.
I, for one, don't want to play into the hands of the terrorists by being afraid. It's asinine that senior citizens crippled from arthritus have to remove their shoes before boarding an airplane. It's disgraceful that U.S. citizens are being subjected to pat-down searches at airports with no probable cause. It's idiotic that we are giving up our essential liberties in the so-called "war on terror." Success to the terrorists wasn't measured in a body count. It's being measured every day in the way that America has become a frightened country.
Those who lost loved ones on 9/11 have my deepest sympathies, but we should not disgrace the memory of those who died by behaving like the terrified, paranoid people that the terrorists sought to make us.