Mobile-phone expansion could disrupt key weather satellites

As Hurricane Patricia barrelled down on Mexico last October, forecasters at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grabbed as many satellite images as they could to track its progress. But at least one crucial shot failed to download. A 22 October image from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system showed a black swathe — no data — across most of the Pacific Ocean. “You couldn’t even see the hurricane,” says Al Wissman, chief of data management and continuity operations for NOAA’s satellite and information service in Silver Spring, Maryland. “That’s how devastated the imagery was.” The culprit was radio interference from mobile-phone companies. And the problem may soon get worse. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering whether to allow a commercial mobile-phone company to share a crucial... More

(Source: Nature.com - Jul 14)