![\"NOAA\u2019s](\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/noaa_C_638417609085432191.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
NOAA\u2019s satellites<\/strong>, known for their pivotal role in tracking weather and climate, were behind the rescue of 350 people from harrowing, life-threatening ordeals in the U.S. and its surrounding waters in 2023. <\/p>\n NOAA\u2019s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or COSPAS-SARSAT<\/strong>, which uses a network of U.S. and international spacecraft to detect and locate distress signals sent from 406MHz emergency beacons onboard aircraft, boats and handheld Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) anywhere in the world. Since its start in 1982, COSPAS-SARSAT has been credited with supporting more than 48,000 rescues worldwide, including more than 10,455 throughout the U.S. and the waters that surround it.<\/p>\n Of the 350 U.S. rescues last year, 255 people were pulled from the water, 44 were saved from aviation incidents and 51 were rescued on land, where PLBs were used. The record one-year total for SARSAT rescues in the U.S. stands at 421 in 2019.<\/p>\n Florida had the most people rescued with 83, followed by Hawaii with 52 and Alaska with 49. <\/p>\n When a NOAA satellite pinpoints the location of a distress signal in the U.S., the information is relayed to the SARSAT Mission Control Center at NOAA\u2019s Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. From there, the information is quickly sent to Rescue Coordination Centers, operated either by the U.S. Air Force for land rescues, or the U.S. Coast Guard (USGC) for maritime rescues. NOAA also supports rescues globally by relaying distress signal information to international COSPAS-SARSAT partners.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a glimpse at three notable rescues from 2023:<\/p>\n \u201cWith each life saved, the SARSAT program proves its worth,\u201d said Steve Volz, Ph.D., assistant administrator for NOAA\u2019s Satellite and Information Service<\/strong>. \u201cNOAA\u2019s partnerships with the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force, NASA, and others around the world are the foundation of SARSAT\u2019s long success.\u201d<\/p>\n By law, 406MHz beacon owners are required to register their devices online with NOAA. Registration information helps provide better and faster assistance to people in distress, reduces false alarms, and may also indicate what type of help is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NOAA\u2019s satellites, known for their pivotal role in tracking weather and climate, were behind the rescue of 350 people from harrowing, life-threatening ordeals in the U.S. and its surrounding waters in 2023. NOAA\u2019s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or COSPAS-SARSAT, which uses a network […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26,25,20],"class_list":["post-7743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ground","tag-launch","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/noaa_8_638417614960016880.png\")
Photo of a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka rescue swimmer hoists a Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue technician while conducting joint training in Sitka Sound, Alaska, Feb. 17, 2019. Today 98% of all 406 ELT, EPIRB and PLB Beacon activations are false alarms. Beacon registration information means that most inadvertent activation cases are resolved with a phone call.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/noaa_9_638417615906595573.png\")
A graphic showing three categories of satellite-assisted rescues that took place in 2023: Of the 350 lives saved, 255 people were rescued at sea, 44 were rescued from aviation incidents and 51 were rescued from incidents on land.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n