Dundee’s unique ‘window on the world’ reaches 40th anniversary
Published On Mon 26 Jan 2015 by Roddy Isles
The Dundee Satellite Receiving Station, which receives and archives thousands of detailed images of planet earth, is celebrating a 40th birthday this month, January 2015.
University of Dundee Electrical and Electronic Engineering lecturers Peter Baylis and John Brush oversaw the installation of the Station’s first dish type tracking antenna on the roof of the University’s Ewing Building in 1975.
Although Baylis and Brush retired a few years ago, the original dish is still used for one of the current antenna systems. It is a part of a five-strong network of tracking antennas mounted on building rooftops across the University campus.
The Station is the only one of its kind in Scotland and one of only a handful in the UK. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The antennae receive information in real time from a number of polar orbiting satellites that provide amazingly detailed images of the earth’s atmosphere and surface.
Iconic images have been captured, including some showing major storms and others showing the entire UK covered in snow during 2010. The station also captured images of the volcanic ash cloud which engulfed Iceland and disrupted European air travel, again in 2010.
Media outlets such as the BBC, ITV, The Times, Guardian and others regularly use images from the Station that show extreme weather and other events.
Manager Neil Lonie explained that the Station’s main function is to support UK environmental scientists with data, although there are many other users across Europe and further afield.
He said, “We work closely with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. They use our data to generate information such as sea surface temperatures and chlorophyll levels for marine scientists. An important aspect is directing research ships, with images delivered soon after we receive them to locate marine features of particular interest.
“Our data are also used in other areas such as monitoring volcanic activity, sea ice, vegetation cover, wild fires and obviously in meteorology.”
The UK Natural Environment Research Council funds the Station operations and its seven-strong team. The satellites are owned and operated by the European organisation EUMETSAT and US organisations NASA and NOAA.
Today, the Station is part of the University of Dundee’s Space Technology Centre. This is led by Professor Stephen Parkes, who also the leads the University’s spin out STAR-Dundee Ltd, a manufacturer of electronics for the space industry.
Neil joined the Station team in 1988 and has seen many changes. At that time one tracking antenna was used to receive five satellite passes daily and data was posted to users on tapes or as photographic prints produced in the Station’s own dark room. Now there are five antennae receiving over 30 passes each day and data is delivered via the Internet, including around five million image downloads annually from the website. The dark room is now part of a computer server room.
“The operations used to be very labour intensive,” adds Neil. “They are much more automated these days, so we can collect and archive more data and make them available very quickly to many more people.”
In addition to UK scientists, data is also made available to overseas researchers, students, teachers and general public all over the world.
“Encouraging public understanding and engagement with science is an important part of our work so we provide free access to as much imagery as we can through our website.”
With trials involving new satellites from other countries such as India and a growing profile inside and outside the University, the Station’s future looks bright.
Roddy Isles
Head of Press
TEL: 01382 384910
MOBILE: 07800 581902
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk