February 08, 2024
U.S. Coast Guard rescued six people who activated an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) after their 48-foot fishing vessel began to sink off the coast of Oak Island, North Carolina, on December 8, 2024. (Image credit: USCG)
The same NOAA satellites that followed the moon’s shadow along the path of the Total Solar Eclipse and tracked Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, also helped rescue 411 people from life-threatening situations in the U.S. and its surrounding waters last year.
NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or COSPAS-SARSAT. The system 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 50,000 rescues worldwideoffsite link, including more than 10,871 throughout the U.S. and the waters that surround it.
Of the 411 U.S. rescues last year, 318 people were pulled from the water, 41 were saved from aviation incidents and 52 were rescued on land. The record one-year total for SARSAT rescues in the U.S. remains at 421, set in 2019.
Florida had the most people rescued with 122, followed by Alaska with 56 and Hawaii with 31.
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’s 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 (USCG) for maritime rescues. NOAA also supports rescues globally by relaying distress signal information to international COSPAS-SARSAT partners.
Here’s a snapshot of several notable rescues from 2024:
- On June 1, about 30 miles southwest of Venice, Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rescued eight people from a sinking fishing boat. The crew activated its onboard PLB, which the USCG linked with a Mayday call in the area.
- On August 16, two military helicopters, carrying five people each, collided during a training exercise near Fallon, Nevada. The Air Force’s Rescue Coordination Center received an alert from the helicopter’s 406mHz emergency beacon and notified U.S. Naval Air Station Fallon, which launched three helicopters to the crash site and transported the 10 trainees to a nearby hospital.
- On October 9, a fishing vessel with one person onboard was disabled off the west coast of Florida, as Hurricane Milton barrelled across the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel’s captain rode out the hurricane overnight in a fishing cooler with a life vest and the vessel’s 406mHz emergency beacon. When the hurricane passed the following day, a USCG helicopter located the man using the beacon coordinates and hoisted him to safety.
“The SARSAT program proves its worth with each life saved,” said Steve Volz, Ph.D., assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. “We owe the success of SARSAT to the strong partnership and collaboration between NOAA, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force, NASA and others around the world.”
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.
