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Copernicus Sentinel-1 helps Vendée Globe sailors navigate icy seas

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Data delivered by Copernicus Sentinel-1 are enabling solo adventurers participating in a legendary unassisted round-the-world yacht race to chart a safe course through ice-infested waters.

Visualisation of Copernicus Sentinel-1

Copyright: ESA/EU

Often referred to as the “Everest of the seas”, Vendée Globe is an arduous nautical challenge held every four years, in which skippers embark on a non-stop 45,000 kilometres round trip through some of the most perilous stretches of ocean on Earth.

The 2024 Vendée Globe – which began on 10 November from Les Sables-d'Olonne on the French Atlantic coast – is the third consecutive edition of the race to be supported by Sentinel-1 of the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation programme.

It is taking a group of 40 participants – each commanding their own vessel – south through the Atlantic, around Antarctica, and then back to the race’s starting point at Les Sables-d'Olonne. Sailors are currently approaching a region of the Southern Ocean known to contain icebergs that could pose a threat to maritime safety.

To minimise this risk and ensure the safety of participants, French ocean monitoring specialist CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) – which is a subsidiary of the French Space Agency (CNES) and investment company CNP – uses satellites to monitor maritime hazards, enabling the team organising Vendée Globe to identify a safe, ice-free corridor through the oceans.

Months before the race began, the European Commission, ESA and CLS began planning Sentinel-1A observations over areas of the Southern Ocean where bergs could pose a hazard to sailors and their vessels.

Sentinel-1 imagery collected before Vendée Globe

Copyright: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2024), processed by CLS

Sentinel-1A gathers high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images that can be used to track icebergs, as well as sea ice extent and ice flows. Its C-band SAR sensor continues to deliver data during darkness and under all weather conditions, making it a particularly valuable monitoring tool in polar regions, where cloud cover and long periods of darkness can often hamper optical observations. 

Franck Mercier, a scientific expert at CLS who is dedicated to supporting the Vendée Globe, explained, “For the current edition of the Vendée Globe, our team has been working meticulously to detect and track icebergs that may pose a threat to the skippers. Among several other space-based observations, we've notably obtained from ESA and EU a specific programming schedule for the Copernicus Sentinel-1A satellite, in order to monitor the ocean waters directly in front of the leading boat.”

The dedicated acquisition plan is based on the 2016 route of navigator and sea captain Armel Le Cléac'h, which was completed in a record time of just 74 days. 

Mercier continued, “Sentinel-1A radar images are by far the best-suited observations for detecting icebergs and, by early November, we had analysed nearly a hundred radar images, focusing on the remnants of massive icebergs originating from Antarctica’s glaciers.”

Focus area for iceberg detection

Copyright: CLS


 

These bergs broke off from Antarctica several years ago, before drifting away from the continent across the Southern Ocean, releasing large amounts of ice fragments in the process.

Once such iceberg – which CLS began tracking in July – measures around 20 km in length and drifted to a latitude of 38 degrees south in early November.  On its journey, it produced hundreds or even thousands of small pieces of ice, with the potential to pose a risk to sailors for several weeks before they completely melt.

These fragments are too small to be detected from space, so CLS combined satellite imagery of the larger iceberg with drift models to estimate the paths of smaller ice fragments.

Mercier commented, “Due to the presence of potentially hazardous ice, the Exclusion Zone (ZEA), which is the virtual line the skippers cannot cross, is set higher than in previous editions. We expect to be able to lower the ZEA in the Pacific Ocean.”

Antarctic exclusion zone

Copyright: CLS


 

Nuno Miranda, Sentinel-1 Mission Manager at ESA, concluded, “The Vendée Globe demonstrates how advanced Earth observation technologies like Sentinel-1 can directly contribute to human safety in extreme environments. By providing reliable, near real-time data, we are proud to support these extraordinary sailors as they navigate one of the world’s most challenging maritime routes, just as we have done in previous editions of this iconic race.”

About the Copernicus Sentinels

The Copernicus Sentinels are a fleet of dedicated EU-owned satellites, designed to deliver the wealth of data and imagery that are central to the European Union's Copernicus environmental programme.

The European Commission leads and coordinates this programme, to improve the management of the environment, safeguarding lives every day. ESA is in charge of the space component, responsible for developing the family of Copernicus Sentinel satellites on behalf of the European Union and ensuring the flow of data for the Copernicus services, while the operations of the Copernicus Sentinels have been entrusted to ESA and EUMETSAT.

The iceberg detection service operated by CLS makes use of Sentinel-1A and hopefully Sentinel-1C (radar imagery), Sentinel-2A, -B, &-C (optical imagery), Sentinel-3A&-B (altimetry and Ocean colour imagery) and Sentinel-6A (altimetry).

About CLS

CLS is a global company, mission-driven, and pioneer provider of monitoring and surveillance solutions for the Earth, created in 1986. It is a subsidiary of the French Space Agency (CNES) and CNP, an investment firm. Its mission is to create innovative space-based solutions to understand and protect our planet and to manage its resources sustainably.

CLS employs almost 1000 people at our headquarters in Toulouse (France) and in 34 other sites around the world.

The company works in five strategic markets:

  • sustainable fisheries management,
  • environmental monitoring,
  • maritime surveillance,
  • mobility,
  • and energies & infrastructures.

 

CLS processes data from 100,000 beacons per month (such as drifting buoys, animal tags, VMS beacons, & LRIT tracking) and observes the oceans and inland waters (every day more than 20 instruments onboard satellites deliver information to CLS on the world's seas and oceans). In addition, CLS monitors land and sea activities by satellite (nearly 20,000 radar and optical images and several hundred drone flights are processed each year). The CLS Group had a revenue of nearly 180 million Euros in 2023.

Committed to a sustainable planet, every day the company works for Earth, from Space. www.cls.fr