Ocean N0. 1A has functioned effectively since it was sent into
orbit more than a year ago. The satellite, combined with its ground
system, has played an important role in collecting data for
monitoring the oceanic environment and forecasting natural
disasters.
According to statistics from the State Ocean Administration, the
satellite has completed more than 1,000 data collection assignments
in the past year. The areas of coverage include Chinese territorial
waters, the Atlantic Ocean, the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian
Ocean.
With the data from the satellite, the State Ocean Satellite
Application Center conducts relevant analysis and works out various
oceanic intelligence reports. With the help of these reports,
relevant departments have discovered three separate Red tides,
outbreaks of algal blooms that endanger fish stocks, in the Bohai
Sea, along the east China coasts, and the Yellow Sea.
The data have also been applied to the forecasting of ice
formation, the surveillance of fishing ground environments,
numerous scientific expeditions of the Antarctica and the
monitoring of major river mouths.
As
an experimental satellite, the Ocean N0.1A has also completed a
number of tests in detecting water color in the past year. With the
improvement of the Ocean N0.1A series of satellites, and the
accumulation of oceanic data, the satellites will play increasingly
important role in effectively protecting the oceanic rights and
interests of China, and assist the sustainable exploitation of
oceanic resources.
(CCTV.com June 14, 2003)